When his world turns over
by Juud
Summary: Taking his godfather's place to roll down the notorious curtain in the ministery of magic, Harry finds himself in Rukongai. Even though determined to build up a strong and good life, he finds himself unable to stop worrying about his old friends..
1. Sooner than expected

**A/N:** Hi! This will be a fanfiction about Harry Potter dieing in his world and ending up in Soul Society. Together with some new friends he starts a new life, with new friends and a new family. Though he'd never forget about his old life.

**Spoilers: **_Harry Potter spoilers:_ There might be some related stuff to the seventh book. _Bleach spoilers:_ Eventually, there will be spoilers for where the manga is now.

**Special thanks to:** Byakuxhisa4eva, for being my beta-reader! Thank you very much! And also to Shinobis Fire, for putting up an idea and plot!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Bleach, nor do I own Harry Potter.

* * *

It went all too fast for him to realise. With the ridiculous amount of danger he had gotten his friends into, they would be really lucky if they all escaped with their lives. Sirius, Lupin, Tonks, Hermione, Ron, Neville, Ginny, Luna… As long as all the people he had gotten into his mess got out alive and safe, Harry pretty much didn't care what would happen to him.

Somehow they had managed to leave the room filled with all the prophecies. Neville had gotten injured and now his face was swollen to the point where he couldn't speak properly anymore. Hermione was unconscious and Ron was still in trouble, the earlier attack by the brains still taking it's toll.

When the members of the Order had entered the room with the mysterious veil, in which Harry and his friends and Death Eaters were now, Harry's heart had skipped a beat with relief. With this back-up, they'd win for sure. But when he saw how many Death Eaters there still were, his hopes melted away. However, Harry knew they'd be safe as long as he still had the prophecy Voldemort wanted so badly in his possession. The question was: how long was Harry able to keep it?

People were fighting battles all around him. His godfather, Sirius Black, was duelling against Sirius' cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange. Bellatrix had always been a proud Death Eater, relish the fact that she was the reason Neville couldn't be with his parents anymore.

Tonks was running around firing spells over her shoulder. Lupin was also in a fight, but before Harry could see with who, he heard Neville's voice shriek.

"Dubbeldore"

Harry turned his head in the direction Neville's finger was pointing too. When Harry saw the man standing across the hall, as calm and as regal as ever, he found his relief doubling. He was certain everything would be okay now. The Death Eaters wouldn't stand a chance in a battle against Dumbledore, but the expression on the headmaster's face was terrifying. A cold feeling raced through Harry's body when he looked up at the man whom he had admired so deeply. His head got dizzy with relief.

The room was still filled with noise. The Death Eaters were yelling from astonishment and their screams and curses were cutting through the air. A jinx was making its way to Neville and the moment Harry noticed, he ran towards his friend. But Harry tripped over the first step of the stairs and, to his horror, the prophecy slipped from his hand. The said object hit the floor in a crash and shattered into a thousand pieces. Smoke rose and a silhouette was formed. In a harsh voice, it started to speak.

Harry concentrated on the voice as much as possible, but he could only hear a few words.

_"…end of July… boy to survive… not what it seems… to die sooner than might expect…"_

Harry didn't have much time to think about what he just heard as he also saw two people who were in a battle. Neither had noticed Dumbledore's entrance, too concentrated on their duel to notice anything that had happened.

"Is this all you've got?" Sirius yelled to his cousin.

Said witch started to grin and fired another spell towards the last Black. As it hit him right in the chest, his eyes twitched from the pain. But when Bellatrix tried to fire a second flame, Harry scrambled up and ran towards the two. He ran as hard as he could, ignoring the pain his lungs were giving him.

"No!" he yelled.

Things seemed to move in slow motion. Bellatrix shot her jinx and without thinking, Harry threw his exhausted frame between the two cousins. The red light pierced through Harry's body as he crumpled to the ground, rolling down something steep. Harry felt the last of his power drain away, and as he rolled, his tired hand releasing his wand. And as he rolled lower, the stand with the veil approached. People around him seemed shocked, and a second before Harry reached the curtain, he heard Hermione scream his name.

---

The pain was slowly retreating. His hot and tired body was cooling down and a nice, calming breeze made Harry realise he was awake. He was awake. The pain had now vanished and this made Harry think. If he was awake, he wasn't dead, was he? But how could he feel this good? Every muscle felt okay and the ache in his chest was gone; either Madame Pomfrey had healed him or he was indeed… dead.

After a few more seconds, in which Harry tried to hear any sign of people around him, he dared to open his eyes.

There were no walls around him, yet the area was just big enough for Harry to fit in. A depressing, dark purple colour filled the air and he felt an invisible barrier was covering him.

Astonished, Harry stood up and moved his feet. He noted he could walk wherever he wanted, but the barrier would stay around him. Was this some wizarding protection Dumbledore had put over him? Nothing could surprise Harry anymore; with wizards, everything and anything was possible.

Hoping and waiting for someone to get him out of there, Harry sat down. How was it at the ministry? How was Sirius? Why was Hermione so terrified when Harry fell down? Would it be safe at the ministry already? Probably not, Harry answered the latter, since he was still stuck at this place.

Another hour passed, yet there was no sign of Dumbledore or any other witch or wizard. For the fourth time that hour, Harry closed his eyes firmly and tried to hear something. But for the fourth time, he heard nothing and he started to get more desperate by the minute.

Then got a different idea. He stood up again, ignoring the odd colours, as he said,

"Lumos."

For a split second, Harry hoped he could see his wand. Then he remembered releasing it when he fell down the veil. The veil…

Suddenly, Harry's mind was racing over the event from the evening. The veil and the first time he saw it. He was automatically attracted to it, ignoring Hermione when she had warned him to leave it. She probably knew what this veil was. So, with her warning and her scream when he fell through… was he dead? Why would she be so worried if this was just made by Dumbledore? But how sure was Harry about this protection..?

All of a sudden, reality hit him. He had just died. That must be it.

In attempts to break the barrier, Harry's fists hit everywhere he could reach. Screams of fear and realisation left his lips and every muscle in his body ached and got hot again. Tears of desperation were making their way down Harry's cheeks. He didn't notice. He had to escape this place. He just had to leave, this would kill him.

Just when Harry realised he may had to be in this place forever, his body seemed to explode. It moved on its own as Harry thought he was loosing his mind from the pain. All of his energy collected in his arms and it floated smoothly into his hands and fingers. A warm blanket of confidence seemed to wrap itself around the frightened boy. And suddenly he knew what to do. With all his power, all the energy in his fingers, he managed to open the barrier.

Harry didn't know what would happen next. Every inch of his body was trembling. A massive power was pulling him towards the hole. Harry didn't know if he could trust it, but he had no choice. The stream of force pushed him close and closer. Harry shut his eyes and just waited for what might happen next.

While falling down, a few words repeated in his mind.

_"…to die sooner than might expect…"_

---

Dizzy, exhausted and shocked, Harry lay on the floor. He had scratches all over his face and his arms seemed to be on fire. He was inhaling lots of fresh air, and the blood which was bleeding from his chest had stopped.

Harry looked around. Luckily, the purple colour had disappeared. Instead, he was in a village. As he lay on the dirty ground, he noticed the houses around him were awfully run-down. He wondered how anyone could stand living in those houses.

He pulled himself up and checked his aching body. The scratches didn't hurt and he was sure they'd vanish in no time. He did notice that he was hungry. But, Harry knew, the most important thing was to discover where the hell he was now. He searched his pockets for his missing wand, he'd feel much safer if he had it.

As Harry walked around, he saw only a few people. Everyone seemed poor and their clothing was just in awful conditions. The weirdest thing about this place was that none of the individuals around him seemed to find it weird that a total stranger covered in blood had just appeared. Some people glanced, but then continued with what they were doing. What annoyed Harry about this, was the fact that nobody seemed to think about explaining anything to him. But then he felt sorry for the inhabitants. Sheets as clothes and no shoes… it would be hell to live like this. And now that Harry was paying attention to it, everyone seemed to be scared of him.

Harry tried to ignore both the glances and his hungry stomach as he stepped confidently towards a man who probably traded clean water. Harry raised his hand to get his attention.

"Excuse me, but do you know where I am?"

The salesman threw Harry a shocked glance. He observed the boy in front of him and started to grin.

"You're new, aren't ya?"

Harry knew nothing else to do, so he just nodded.

"Hehe. Welcome to Rukongai, rich-boy!"

"Rukongai?" Harry asked curiously. He understood the rich-boy part. With his clothes and shoes, he should look like it.

He wanted to know more about this place. Then Hermione popped into his mind. Would she know about this place? Harry stepped forward to ask more, but the man seemed to see this as a threat. He grabbed a wooden stick from behind him.

"Don't come closer! You're all high about yourself, huh, boy!? Disappear!"

Dangerously waving the twig around, yelling to Harry to leave, and said boy did. He didn't want to anger anyone… yet.

While running away, he knew one thing for sure: this place was weird.

On his way to nowhere, he saw a kind looking woman, probably around his age, walking with something in her arms. The girl had black hair and it fell not far under her shoulders. Some of her hair was falling over her face and her black eyes were filled with worried. And as Harry saw her, he wanted to get to know her. She seemed familiar with this place and she'd be able to tell him where this was. But after Harry got her attention, she turned around and started to run. Harry, taken aback, did the same. But the streets became too crowded and within seconds he lost track of her.

Harry scolded at himself. Why didn't he start to run earlier? Or faster? Was he ever going to see her again?

The day passed and slowly darkness was falling over the place Harry now knew as Rukongai. He didn't know much more, only that this was the 78th district, known as Inuzuri, out of eighty districts. But he still had no clue about what was going on.

There had been moments he tried some more spells, like 'enervatio', a spell which would let him wake up, or 'oculus reparo', which might repair an object whom caused his little trip to this world. But nothing had worked. And Harry didn't know whether this was because of the large distance between wand and wizard or maybe the fact that magic simply didn't work here.

But there also had been moments in which Harry did feel something, though it wasn't familiar. A different kind of magic. Hermione had once said that there was only one kind of magic in the wizarding world. But then again, Harry didn't know for sure if this was indeed _his_ world.

After desperately drinking some river water to quench his thirst, Harry found a bunch of kids around a fire, baking fish. Harry did his utmost best to catch one as well; anything would do to ease his hungry stomach. But his failed attempts only amused the kids. After a while, one of them even came into the water to help Harry.

Half an hour later, Harry had finally caught one. With a huge grin on his face and a slimy fish in his hands, he turned around. The kids had all fallen asleep, but the fire was still burning.

And as Harry poked a large twig in his meal and placed it into the fire, he realised he was free.

He felt free for the first time in years.

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**A/N: **Hope you liked it!


	2. Caught in her song

**A/N:** Oooh, thank you all for your reviews! It made me really proud! P  
Here is the second chapter, I hope you'll like it!

**Special thanks to:** Byakuxhisa4eva, for being my beta-reader! Thank you very much! And also to Shinobis Fire, for putting up an idea and plot!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Bleach, nor do I own Harry Potter.

**Oops:** I accidentally used the first chapter for the second chapter, so I posted it again!

* * *

Harry opened his eyes. A strange smell tickled his nose as he sat up and stretched his arms. Looking around him, he remembered the previous day. The day when he died. 

Rukongai would be his new home. A home, where Harry was confused of it's actual whereabouts.

Harry gaped and stood up, leaving the sleeping children behind. Then he started to run. He didn't know why and he didn't know where to. He just wanted to run until he couldn't run anymore, so he wouldn't have to think about his situation. He ran to the place his intuition was taking him.

Harry raced through the streets of Inuzuri. He passed alleyways and sleeping people, and on the way he came to the conclusion that it was still very early in the morning. He was the only one on the street. As his stomach growled again, a baby started to cry in the distance.

"Sssht, it'll be okay, Rukia. When we pass the tree, I'll give you some pieces of an apple. How would you like that? And maybe, if we are lucky, there are some of those sweet strawberries you're crazy about! That'd be nice, wouldn't it?"

The woman's voice was soft, loving and sounded surprisingly patience talking to a crying baby. As the woman spoke, Harry slowed down and tried to find her and the baby. He turned around a corner and then saw _her_.

The woman with raven black hair Harry wanted to see so badly the day before was standing right in front of him. Her face seemed tired, but she looked happy with the baby she called Rukia in her arms. Harry could only stare at them. The woman closed her eyes and she started to sing.

Her voice was beautiful. As the tune left her lips, Harry felt his body calm down. Everything around him seemed to disappear as the song reached his ears.

They looked peaceful, and Harry realised that this world could be a happy place too.

The baby had stopped her sobs and was now moving her slim arms around, playfully trying to grab the hair of the singing girl. With a calming smile on her face, she turned around.

It wasn't until seconds later that Harry realised the song had stopped and the girl was looking at him. Harry wanted to say something that wouldn't scare her, so he took a careful step forward.

"I am so sorry," he whispered. "I just... you caught me with that song."

The girl smiled and she sat down on the ground. She put Rukia beside her and started to tickle her tummy. The baby shrieked with joy.

"This is my baby sister Rukia. I am Hisana. You know, I saw you yesterday. You are new, aren't you?"

Harry walked to her and sat down as well. He nodded as he gave her answers.

"I am Harry, and yeah, I think I'm new. I certainly don't know this place. So, how come you ran off yesterday?"

Hisana put Rukia's sheet closer around her sister's body and gave Harry a sad smile.

"New people are usually rude and aggressive. I don't want to get Rukia involved in that kind of stuff. Do you remember anything from your life before you died?"

The innocent question confirmed Harry's fears. He had died, and he had left all of his problems to his friends.

"Yeah. I died in a duel to protect my godfather from his cousin. She was a dangerous witch."

"Oh, but that isn't a very nice thing to say, is it?" Hisana smiled, obviously teasing Harry.

"Oh, but it's true! She was a witch, as were most girls in my world. The guys, including me, were wizards. Don't... don't you have any other wizards around? Anyone with a wand?"

As the girl shook her head in respond, Harry was disappointed. He had hoped for at least one wizarding family, so he could ask about this place and maybe for a rare spare wand.

"Oh," was thus everything he could say.

"But maybe," Hisana started. She took Rukia's hand and squeezed it softly. "There are wizards here. Though not the same, without a so-called wand. But we call them Shinigami's. Souls with reiatsu who had graduated from the academy and they live in a place in Seireitei, to serve in the Gotei thirteen."

She giggled when she saw Harry's non-understanding face.

"This place is Soul Society," she explained, "in the human world it's called heaven. But the true heaven is far away and I've lost my hopes to reach it. Some souls who come here possess reiatsu, which is spiritual energy. I think it's just like wizards."

She smiled to Harry. As he nodded to say that he could still follow her, Hisana continued.

"When you know if you have spiritual energy, it is possible to start studying to be a shinigami at the academy. There they teach you these magical stuff. And after seven years, they'll give you a test and if you pass, you can go to Seireitei, place of 'pure souls'."

Saying those last two words, Hisana added the marks with her fingers. But when she watched Rukia, she lowered them to tickle the kid again. Her baby sister seized one of Hisana's fingers and put it in her mouth.

"I'm glad she doesn't have any teeth yet. But you know, Soul Society is divided up in two parts, which are Rukongai and Seireitei. Seireitei should be very comfortable, clean, warm, healthy and there is enough food for everyone. Once I saw the open gate in the wall, which separates the two parts. And only by seeing the people having fun and teasing each other, I knew that it was way better than Rukongai. People only fight each other here."

Her voice went soft and she bowed her head. Rukia grew tired of Hisana's fingers, so she began sucking on her own. She mumbled happily in a language only she could understand.

"Oi, you know what? Let's find something to eat, for the three of us. Rukia is very hungry, I'm hungry and you should be starving as well." Harry said, trying to comfort Hisana.

The said girl seemed shocked by what he just said, but she nodded with the sad smile on her face.

"You are hungry, and yes, so is Rukia. I am not, though. Only souls with reiatsu are hungry. Food is only for me to taste. And since Rukia is hungry, I usually give my food to her."

Hisana was glowing from pride when she told Harry that Rukia had reiatsu. Harry didn't realize he should have reiatsu as well. In fact, he still didn't believe he contained any. It should be his wizard-powers which made him this hungry. So he just shook his head and told Hisana his theory.

"It might be true," Hisana said in a low voice. But Harry knew for sure that she didn't believe it.

He didn't want to make things uncomfortable, so he stood up and looked around.

"Are you looking for something?" Hisana asked.

"Yeah," Harry answered. "Where do you find food?"

Hisana stood up, Rukia in her arms again. She then pointed to a small building, wearing a small grin on her face. She waved at Harry for him to follow her, as she walked towards the house.

They walked in silence past the construction, into an alley which you would only notice if you'd know if it's there. Feeling a little sad, Harry thought of the Leaky Cauldron, which had the same effect.

At the end of the alley there was a little shelter. Hisana pushed the door open and walked in, Harry on her heels. Careful not to make too much noise, Hisana closed the door and then walked to the back of the room, where she pushed some boxes aside. Behind those was a hidden exit.

"It's not much, but it should be enough for now," Hisana smiled as she pushed open the secret door.

Behind it was a lawn, which was just big enough to fit three small trees and a few bushes. There were leaves and fruit lying on the ground, spread over all the grass. Apples, strawberries, pears, cherries, blueberries, raspberries... A crawling Rukia was already happily sucking on a strawberry. Her eyes were filled with joy as her mouth got more and more sticky.

Hisana was laughing by the surprised expression on Harry's face.

"Come on, take some!"

"This… how… what… but…"

Harry couldn't speak. If there was a place like this, why would Hisana and Rukia be hungry at all?

"It's only like this at this time of the year," Hisana murmured, reading Harry's thoughts from his face. She picked up two apples and offered him one.

Harry accepted gratefully and he sat down. So did Hisana. They sat next to each other, enjoying Rukia's happy shrieks. The little girl had found more strawberries and her entire face was sticky.

"I wouldn't be surprised if she dated some guy named after fruit in the future," Hisana grinned.

Harry managed a little smile as well.

"Oi, Hisana, if you allow me, can I ask you how you came here?" he asked the girl next to him.

"Sure," Hisana answered friendly. "Go ahead."

Harry started to grin at this comment.

"Okay. So, how did you get here? And when? And how do you know so much about this place? And where is the rest of your family?"

Hisana turned her head and her eyes met Harry's.

"That are more questions than expected, aren't there, Harry-kun?"

Somehow, Harry didn't seem to notice the way she just addressed him. He just waited for her answers.

"'How did you get here,' was your first question, right? I got here because I died in the material world, protecting Rukia from some men who wanted to take her for adoption. But I didn't want to lose her, so I told them to leave. Then they got rather aggressive and they used force to separate us. It didn't work, though Rukia got hit really hard. She would never survive such a knock. And actually, neither did I."

Her face looked sad, but by the way her eyes followed Rukia's moves, Harry knew that Hisana was proud about the fact that she died protecting her little sister. And Harry knew exactly how she felt, for he had died protecting someone he loved as well.

"When did Rukia and I came here? I don't know, in a place like this it is easy to lose the time. I was told about this place by a shinigami on duty. It was the first day here for Rukia and me, and I think I was as desperate as you were. About the rest of our family... we are better off without them, aren't we, Rukia?" Hisana took a bite of her apple.

Harry noticed that her family was a tough subject to her, so he decided to give it a rest.

Rukia came crawling back to Hisana and gently the older sister lifted the younger one. Hisana made eye-contact with Harry as a sign that they were to leave.

Putting a little more fruit in his pockets, Harry checked the alleyway as Hisana shove the boxes back in their placed, to cover the secret door.

Rukongai, Inuzuri in the morning was calm. But further into the day it was alive, the inhabitants were waking up and the quiet night sounds had changed into the noise of people yelling and screaming. Only now and then there was laughter, but the majority of it were cries. People weren't protected very well and soon Harry came to the conclusion why people weren't surprised by the blood-soaked Harry of the previous day. Most of the people had bloodstains on their clothing.

Hisana, Harry and Rukia were walking through the district. Rukia found herself once more in her sisters embrace, and Harry loved the way the two sisters were connected. They were each others everything and they were crazy enough to carry Harry around as well. He was thankful, though.

There were a lot of things Harry wanted to ask more, but he couldn't find the right words. With his hands stuffed in his pockets, he just followed the girl who was helping him around.

After a while, Hisana noticed that her new friend was deeply lost in thoughts, his eyebrows frowned. She figured that it should be hard for him to find his way in this new world. She realised that she didn't even know that much about him yet. She had acted like there was no secret she wouldn't share with him. But, she knew, she would give him all the time he needed.

"I just need to know..." Harry murmured to himself.

"I'm sorry?" Hisana asked.

"Oh, it's nothing, I was just thinking out loud. I feel guilty about leaving my problems to my friends." he answered.

It was true what Harry said. He didn't know what had happened after he fell through the veil. And somehow he knew that he might never find out. He was the only wizard in this world, but he had always been an exception, him being 'The Boy Who Lived' and all.

"I wish I could find a way to know what happened after I died. Is there a way?"

Hisana shook her head.

"No, there isn't. Only a shinigami is able to get to the real world, and even then most souls there aren't able to see them."

"I just hope I can…"

Hisana gave him a sad but encouraging smile.

The rest of the day was not much different than the morning. Harry asked questions and Hisana answered, telling stories she knew about shinigami's. She explained everything she knew about the Gotei thirteen, their duties and the people who were highest ranked. In the evening, after eating some discarded bread, they found a place, hidden from the wind and protection from the rain, for them to sleep.

With his entire body tired, Harry wasn't surprised that he fell asleep almost immediately.

Nevertheless, Hisana couldn't get to sleep that easily. Her mind was recalling the expression on Harry's face when he told her that he wanted to know if his friends were okay. He was a proud guy, Hisana thought. Really proud... then who am I to interfere? It might be better if I leave him for now. He now knows more about Soul Society and Rukongai, so he should be okay. And now he can go looking for answers without Rukia and me being in his way.

Hisana stood up resolutely and lifted Rukia. Making sure Harry was fast asleep, she murmured 'Good luck, Harry-kun,'. Then she wrote in the sand that Harry shouldn't be worried about them and he shouldn't go looking for them. Then she left, looking for a different place to sleep, far away from Harry. Satisfied, Hisana knew she had done the right thing.

But when Harry woke up in the middle of the night, he found the area around him surprisingly empty. Seeing the little note Hisana had made him, he found himself caught.

He was once more caught, this time in her unspoken tune.

* * *

**A/N:** Yay, second chapter's up! I hope you liked it! 


	3. Covering his view

**A/N:** Chapter three! Yay! I really want to thank those people who made this story a favorite or who have added it to their alerts, there are many! Next, I want to apoligize for the late update, that's all my fault, since I had some trouble writing due to personal problems. And the keyboard of Byakuxhisa4eva didn't want to co-operate, so it kinda blew with the chapter.

**Special thanks to:** Byakuxhisa4eva, for being my beta-reader! And to Shinobis Fire, for putting up an idea and plot!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Bleach, nor do I own Harry Potter.

* * *

His breathing became heavy as his eyes were shut tight, his arms making moves in every direction. Sweat was all over his forehead and images flashed through his mind. Pictures of Hisana being attacked, sick or nearing death. And every time there was a little baby, surprisingly quiet and laying still next to her older sister. 

_A man stood next to Hisana's head when he raised his leg. With a quick movement he let his foot fall down on Hisana's body…_

"No!"

With his eyes wide open, Harry found himself lying under a covering roof. It was the same place where Hisana had left him nearly six months ago. Harry had been having those kinds of nightmares for a couple of weeks now. He'd fall asleep somewhere and he'd always wake up in the shelter he and Hisana had used back then.

Harry hadn't heard a thing from Hisana or Rukia, and every time he went looking for them, he couldn't detect even the smallest hint.

Life in Rukongai was hard, very hard. And it was even harder if you got hungry every day, without any food around to satisfy your hunger. The shelter's little garden wasn't blooming anymore and all of the fruit which were still there were rotten. So, everyday, meals included fresh fish. Sometimes Harry would find some pieces of bread or a deserted fire, and by this he could give his dinner a little variation.

With his good condition, it wasn't very hard for Harry to find an occupation. A very kind married couple owned a flower shop had hired him and Harry got paid with food. But now the season became cold and the flowers couldn't grow in the bitter conditions, so Harry was on the streets again. There was only one good thing about him being fired: Harry could go looking for the two sisters again.

On his daily search of the district, Harry knew where he could try. Behind Inuzuri was a large hill that gave you an entire view over the area. He'd find the hill and he'd go looking for Hisana and her baby sister. Harry knew that it sounded silly, for there were tons of people in the area and two small people would not be easily recognizable, but something in his gut told Harry to go.

Now all Harry had to do was find his way to the hill, which didn't sound hard, since a hill isn't easy to hide. But everywhere Harry walked were houses, covering his view.

But when he walked through a crossroad, he saw a forest. Harry ran quickly to the trees and stopped at the edge of the woods. On his right were more houses, in front of him were trees and on his left was the hill. It wasn't as high as Harry had hoped for, but he ran to it anyway.

Reaching the top, Harry saw more than he prepared for.

"H-Harry-kun?"

"Shut up, you whore."

"Please, Harry-kun, save Rukia…"

"He told you to shut up!"

A rough hand slapped Hisana in her face. The girl didn't scream, but her eyes were firmly set upon her little sister.

Rukia was sitting on a fallen tree branch, her happy face in a puzzled glare. When her vision caught Harry, she stretched out her arms and her eyes started to twinkle. She had no idea about what was happening to her sister, and Harry knew that Hisana wouldn't want her to know either.

Another smack in Hisana's face made Harry realise that this was really happening. Anger flooded throughout his entire body as the first man, who was holding Hisana, started to laugh. The second man raised his hand, now holding a stone, and was about to hit the girl again when the sky went dark. The wind blew harder and cold rain started to pour down.

"Let her go," Harry growled.

He had experienced this feeling once before. Six months earlier, when Harry had been locked up in the barrier, he had felt a different kind of magic. And as he suddenly knew what to do with his energy, Harry trusted this feeling to help him again.

Stunned, the two men watched Harry. The first one loosened his grip on Hisana and the girl wrestled her way out of his embrace. She ran to Rukia the moment she was free and Hisana hugged the little girl.

"Move," Harry warned the two men.

"Move, and don't ever touch her again."

The second man took a brave step forward and opened up his mouth to speak. From Harry's perspective, this was a wrong move. He stopped holding back the force in his fingers and a blast of purple light pierced through the air to blow the man away.

"Go away. This place isn't worth having people like you around."

Without even thinking about his companion, the first man yelled and ran away. The second man scrambled up and followed his partner, running for his life.

Feeling satisfied with his job well done, Harry calmed down. The dark clouds disappeared to show a bright blue sky again. The loud wind changed into a pleasant breeze and Harry turned around.

He gave Hisana a small smile before he passed out.

---

"Harry-kun…"

A sweet, soft voice near Harry's head made him wake up. On his head lay a wet towel, kept in place by a hand. A baby was making playful noises and a woman was sitting beside Harry's head.

"Thank god you're awake!" Hisana shrieked.

His vision was blurry, so Harry searched for his glasses. When he had put them on, he watched Hisana. The first thing he noticed about her were the band aids on her face.

Harry thought it was odd, they seemed too perfect to have come from Inuzuri.

"Are you two okay?" he asked.

Hisana nodded.

"Don't you worry about us. The second after you passed out, a shinigami came to help us. He used some magic and band aids on me and he even did something to you, he probably stopped you from being dizzy. Rukia was _so_ happy to see you again! So am I, that's not the point, the point is that this shinigami said something about feeling a reiatsu-thingy and he wanted to know what is was, so he came! After a few minutes of healing us he left. I thought he looked familiar, but then I though that I was being childish, because when would I ever see a shinigami? And then… what?"

She added the last word with a nosy look to Harry. The said boy had given her an amused glare. He started to grin.

"Do you ever stop talking?"

The girl crossed her arms.

"I was just worried about you, Harry-kun." she pouted. A blush crept up to her cheeks as she added: "I've missed you."

Rukia crawled to sit down next to her sister, imitating her. Rukia's slim arms crossed, her lips pouting, she murmured 'Hallypuh'.

"Then why did you leave?" Harry asked, after seeing the stubborn little girl sitting there proudly for pronouncing his name.

"Well, it was hard for you. You seem like someone who'd go searching for answers until he'd find them. I just didn't want to be in your way."

"Yeah," Rukia agreed, her arms still crossed.

"Hisana... you and Rukia, please stay with me," Harry begged. "I knew from the beginning that you were special. That's why I chased you down the streets. And even though we walked together for no longer than a day, I felt comfortable with you. I've missed you both so much, I might even lo... might even..."

He had hoped that Hisana wouldn't get what he just said. But by the surprised look on her face, he knew that she _did_ understand. Hisana gave Harry a smile and she bent over, slightly blushing, as she kissed his cheek.

"Thank you, Harry-kun." she whispered.

"No problem," Harry answered, fighting against the blush he knew was threatening to grace his cheeks.

"Oh, by the way, what did those men want from you?"

Hisana shrugged. "Nothing in particular, I guess. They were drunk, saying something about a celebration in Seireitei. Did you know that the heir of the Kuchiki-clan just became a Vice-Captain? That's probably why there was a party."

It bothered Harry that Hisana didn't seem too bothered about the attack. Either that or she didn't want to talk about it, so he wouldn't push the subject.

Harry stood up and offered Hisana his hand, which she took. Her other hand was being held by Rukia, who was trying to walk by herself. The three of them walked over the hill, now and then taking a break for Rukia. But soon enough the girl got tired, bored and she fell asleep. Harry and Hisana had gotten tired as well, and since dusk had fallen, the three settled down behind some houses at the edge of the woods. They gathered some twigs and before long a cosy fire was warming the air.

Rukia was asleep under Harry's jacket, so she would stay warm. Harry and Hisana were sitting by the fire, close to each other to keep the warmth. And yet Hisana complained.

"It's freezing! How come you and Rukia are warm?"

As a response, Harry pulled Hisana into an embrace and he held her tight.

"Better this way?" he asked, grinning as he saw Hisana's face turn red.

She nodded.

Hisana was close to falling asleep when there was a soft cough behind their backs. Mumbling a bit, Hisana turned around and her eyes went wide. As fast as she could, she made Harry release her and she stood on her feet, making a deep bow.

"Kuchiki-sama, what is the honour of your visit?"

"Please, stand straight up. This is not good for your body, particularly not after such a fight."

Kuchiki Byakuya, Harry thought, was an intimidating man. His eyes made Harry feel cold and the Kenseikan, the sign of nobility, emphasized his power.

"Allow me to congratulate you once more on your promotion, Kuchiki-sama."

Suddenly, a bell started to ring inside of Harry's head. "Oh, you're the guy who became Vice-captain! And you must've been the man who healed Hisana and Rukia... Why weren't you at your own party, but hanging around in a place like this?"

Hisana gave Harry a stunned glare, and she hissed 'Harry-kun!'

But Kuchiki Byakuya just smirked. "You may ask. I am not a person who would attend any party, not even my own. I prefer walking in the calming wind of Rukongai, where I can let go of my thoughts. And even so, it is my duty to ensure safety. When I felt your reiatsu," (Hisana gave Harry a glance which said 'told you so') "...I had to drop by to see what was happening. But when I had arrived, you were unconscious and this lady seemed to put all her energy into moving you into better conditions."

Harry felt guilty about not trusting the man. He had helped Hisana when Harry himself wasn't able to.

"Thank you for your kindness, Kuchiki-sama. But please, don't worry about us anymore."

Byakuya stared at the woman in front of him. Harry thought that he saw a glimpse of amusement, which made Harry angry again. This man and _his _Hisana? Wait, did he just think 'his Hisana'? But then Harry saw Byakuya preparing to speak again, and he wanted to know what this noble was going to say, so Harry pushed his thoughts away.

"All right, then. There is only one more thing," Byakuya seized to something inside of his kimono. He allowed Hisana to take it from him.

"But we cannot accept this, sir!" Hisana shrieked, seeing the quality food, wrapped in a packet.

"Acceptance is a better way to thank me than to refuse this." Byakuya pointed out. "And you will need it for both your sister and your other companion. I will not accept refusal, Hisana-san."

With this, the aristocrat turned around and disappeared on the spot.

After a few seconds of surprised silence, Hisana sat down to wake Rukia.

"Who's hungry?"

* * *

**A/N: **Thank you for reading! 


	4. I must depart

**A/N:** Problems with email and crashes and burns and fires and... eehm.. enough excuses to make up for this chapter? Yay for everyone who reviewed, favorited or alerted (are those even words..?)! But hee, new chapter! It contains lot of changes and.. next chapter is almost finished writing, so I hope it'll be updated soon enough!

**Disclaimer:** Na-uh, no Bleach, no Potter.

**Thanks to:** Byakuxhisa4eva, for betaing the chapters! And to Shinobis Fire, for putting up an idea and plot.

* * *

"Hallypuh!" Rukia's soft voice echoed between two of the few buildings in Inuzuri. She held a bottle of water in her chubby hands as she ran towards Harry. 

Harry smirked down at her. He took the water and opened the bottle, so Rukia could take a sip. The little girl seemed to adore water. This came in handy, since water took away hungry feelings. Whenever Harry or Rukia would get hungry and there wasn't be any food around, they'd just drink. Though there wasn't any reason to get hungry anymore.

But what was bothering Harry was the fact that this bottle of water was clean and fresh. Rukia walking on her own only confirmed Harry's suspicions. Hisana was with this Byakuya again.

The noble came by very often since the accident that happened several weeks ago. He always brought water and food with him and, Harry could tell, his visits were just an excuse to talk to Hisana. The usual thing happened today. Hisana and Rukia go for a little walk, Byakuya drops by, Hisana orders Rukia to see Harry so the two would be alone to talk.

Harry knew that the prestigious Vice-captain had an interest in Harry's, or so Harry liked to believe, girlfriend. Since Byakuya's almost daily visit, Harry and Hisana were getting torn apart. It hurt Harry the most that he knew that Hisana didn't know, or didn't seem to care that the two of them were losing each other.

Once, he had started on the subject. But Hisana just smiled and told Harry not to worry. He was still the only man she wanted to be close too. And Harry had never came back to the matter, afraid that he might upset her.

Rukia had finished the water and was now pulling on Harry's robes, her eyes playfully wide and she was hopping up and down.

"Hisana-nee!"

Harry sighed deep and picked up Rukia. He held her tighter as they passed two smirking men, and he let her walk alone the moment they rounded a corner.

Rukia turned another corner and Harry followed. He knew where they were heading. It was the same spot where Hisana had met Byakuya for the first time. The noble, Harry had learned, had been the shinigami on duty Hisana was referring to on the second day of Harry's arrival.

"_When did Rukia and I come here? I don't know, in a place like this it is easy to lose the time. I was told by this place by a shinigami on duty. It was the first day here for Rukia and me, and I think I was as desperate as you were."_

A cough woke Harry from his thoughts. "…but I don't think so, Byakuya-sama." Hisana's voice said.

"We shall see," Byakuya answered amused. "But I think it would be wise to change the subject. Your sister is coming toward us."

Harry groaned. He knew that Byakuya didn't like him for being with Hisana, but to just ignore him… Harry wasn't very fond of the noble, either. The shinigami had asked Hisana if she could address him more familiarly, and the first few days after Hisana had muttered both 'Kuchiki-sama' and 'Byakuya-sama'.

Hisana turned around and waved to Harry and Rukia.

Byakuya stood up, his face stern again.

"I must depart. I have to return to my duties. Please think about my offer once more, Hisana."

Hisana nodded, and Harry saw a glimpse of guilt in her eyes. She closed them and turned her head away to cough.

"Think about what offer?" Harry asked Hisana, the moment Byakuya had disappeared.

"Oh, it's nothing, Harry-kun." Hisana answered, picking up Rukia.

At that moment, Harry wished that he had some Veritaserum with him, or anything else that would make Hisana speak. He was really worried about her. She had been acting weird for a while and Harry could not discover why. All he knew was that Byakuya had something to do with it.

"Harry-kun?" Hisana whispered after a couple of minutes into the uncomfortable silent walk.

"Hmm?"

"I… Byakuya-sama gave me an offer. I need to think about an answer, but I don't think I can make a decision on my own."

Harry stopped walking and seized Hisana's wrist. Hisana stopped as well and she turned around to face Harry.

"What kind of offer?" he asked.

Hisana closed her eyes before she spoke.

"Byakuya-sama asked me to move into the Kuchiki residence with him. It's okay to take Rukia with me. But I'm not sure what to do. I mean, it would be a lot safer for Rukia, but rules and stuff from that sort of life would prison her. And how I could leave you?"

Harry released her wrist as the information hit him, hard. He knew this was the best offer someone from Rukongai could ever get. But just the image of Byakuya being together with Hisana made Harry's heart shatter. An unknown feeling hit him. And suddenly, Harry knew he had to say something to calm down Hisana.

"Let's just take a look over the entire thing," Harry said as he tried to sound calm. "Rukia would never be hungry again, but she would be locked up by the strict rules of the Kuchiki. She won't be able to be as free and happy as she is now."

The image of a non-smiling Rukia entered his mind, and fury rose in his mind and voice as he continued.

"It's too bad she's too young to make an impossible choice like this for herself. Why would you take away her happiness? We weren't hungry anymore, you know. With Byakuya-_chan_ taking care of us helpless souls, how could we get hungry in the first place?"

He regretted his words almost immediately. Hisana was in tears and all she wanted was for Harry to listen to her. He knew that Hisana would never take away Rukia's happiness, but it did sound good. Living life as a Kuchiki would guarantee Rukia's good health, proper education and a bright future. And here Harry was, yelling at the person in front of him.

"I'm sorry, Hisana." Harry whispered. "It is just a surprise… a shock. I never saw this coming."

Hisana sighed. "You… have got a point, though. But I can't do this without your support. Please, just help me."

Harry wished that he could.

The rest of the day, Harry and Hisana were lost in thoughts. The atmosphere was painful and even Rukia was less cheerful than usual. Harry caught Hisana in tears a lot, and a part of him told him that is was all his fault. The same part wanted Harry to hug the girl, but the rest of him told him that he should leave her for now. She needed time to think as well.

If she were to reject Byakuya's offer, Hisana would stay with Harry, but Byakuya would most definitely drop by every day, and probably even more often than he did now.

And what would happen if Hisana were to accept? Most likely, Byakuya would propose. And Hisana would accept and become the wife of the Kuchiki heir, which would give her a lot of power. But knowing Hisana, she would never use it. Unless she could help people without hurting anyone. What if she could use her position to help the people in Rukongai? The place was huge, but there had to be something she could do. She could arrange medical help, for instance! But Hisana could never watch Rukia grow up within strict rules and duties. But what if Rukia stayed with Harry? Then there would also be a reason for Hisana to visit once in a while.

"You should take his offer," Harry said. His sudden voice made Hisana jump.

"What? Why? How about Rukia? What about you?" Hisana's big, dark eyes looked confused.

"Rukia can stay in Rukongai with me. I can protect her and you should be able to visit her whenever you want to. But as the wife of the Kuchiki heir, I think…"

"What! His wife? He didn't say anything about that!" Hisana shrieked, turning red.

Harry couldn't help but laugh at the innocence of Hisana's words. He pulled her close to him and he buried his face in her hair.

"He will propose, Hisana. And I think you would be really happy if you accepted. It could have been worse. For example, you could have ended up with a guy with round glasses, a weird scar and looking for a piece of wood to do magic tricks."

Hisana laughed. "You're right. But no matter how strange the guy was, he was the best."

Harry found himself grinning. He snuggled closer to Hisana and smiled at her. In return, Hisana put her fingers on Harry's face before she gave him a soft kiss on the cheek.

"I will miss you," she whispered.

"This change doesn't mean that we can't see each other anymore, does it?" Harry asked.

Hisana shook her head. "No, it doesn't."

Rukia had climbed her way up to the lap of her sister. The three of them hugged for a while. Then Harry looked up and said: "Now where's that noble when you need him?"

"He just left, remember?" Hisana murmured.

"Then we've got some more time to prepare, I guess."

"Yeah… Harry-kun?"

"What is it?"

"Do you think Rukia will notice when I leave?"

Hisana was scared. Harry could feel the girl shiver in his embrace and her voice was shaking.

"Of course she will. She will miss you as much as I will," Harry reassured her. "And I know that she will shriek and run to you whenever you come by to visit."

Hisana sat up and Harry released her. She took her baby sister and cuddled her as she whispered softly that she'd miss her too.

---

It had been two days since Byakuya's last visit. And when he had met Hisana and Harry again, he had explained his absence for the past two days.

"The reason why I have waited a time was that I did not want to pressure you."

With Rukia within sight, Harry, Hisana and Byakuya sat down somewhere to discuss Hisana's decision. Hisana had stuttered with a red head that she would accept his offer, and Byakuya had responded with a rare smile.

"But you have decided to leave your sister with this… man?" Byakuya had questioned.

"Yes, Harry-kun is crazy about Rukia and I don't think, please don't see this as offensive, that Rukia could be happy in a 'limited' area. She needs to be free." Hisana had explained. She had been nervous, and she had told Harry this by her body language. She had played with her hands, shivered, coughed and she didn't seem to keep her eyes concentrate on something longer than two seconds.

"I will not stop you from visiting Rukia, Hisana," Byakuya said, also noticing the tense atmosphere around the girl.

"Thank you, Byakuya-sama," she had smiled.

The smile had pained Harry. He had seen that she had given the noble a true smile, something Harry had barely seen himself. Had he made the right choice? Was Byakuya right for her? But Harry had abandoned those thoughts at the instant. The Kuchiki felt something real for Hisana. Why else would he ask a girl from Rukongai to move in with him? And Hisana was capable of taking care of herself. If she didn't want to move in with him, she would say so.

Hisana's laughs woke Harry from his thoughts.

"I would like you to join me at the mansion, Hisana." Byakuya said.

Hisana swallowed before nodding.

"Can we come?" Harry had asked, maybe a little too fast. Seeing the stern expression on Byakuya's face, Harry added an argument. "I can take Rukia, for Hisana."

"Fine then. You can come." the noble had allowed.

As they neared the mansion, Harry, Hisana and Rukia gasped. A huge, white building towered over an amazing garden. A lot of trees, most of them supporting sakura blossoms, were filling the area. Between them was a small path, which would bring you to the most beautiful places, according to Byakuya.

A servant came walking towards the four. She bowed deeply before addressing Byakuya.

"Welcome home, Kuchiki-sama. And welcome to the honorable house of Kuchiki, miss, miss and mister."

Harry and Hisana were highly impressed, but Byakuya didn't seem to be affected at all.

"Thank you, Rurikou. We don't need anything at the moment. You are dismissed."

The servant bowed once more and then left.

Byakuya took the three to a fallen tree, which lay next to a small river. The area was covered by green, blooming bushes. A couple of birds sang as they flew from tree to tree. Hisana's eyes were wide from astonishment.

"Oh, Byakuya-sama, it's beautiful!"

Byakuya gave her a warm look. Then he nodded. "It is, just like you are, Hisana."

If Hisana hadn't blushed and if he didn't know that Hisana was crazy about the noble, Harry would have gagged. Byakuya's words were very old-fashioned. Even Rukia mumbled something about it.

They continued walking for half an hour, keeping still for a couple of minutes at every spot, which, Byakuya kept repeating, were worth to be called a resemblance in Hisana's beauty. And finally they entered the mansion. Lots of servants were walking around, offering their help. But Byakuya kept sending them away. After a while, though, the noble asked for Rurikou again. And within seconds, the requested servant stood in front of Byakuya, bowing.

"How far along is dinner?"

"Almost done, Kuchiki-sama. You are able to sit at the table you have asked for."

"Thank you. You may take your leave."

Byakuya turned around to face his guests.

"Please follow me."

Hisana walked towards Harry and took Rukia. She gave him a little smile before they followed the heir. They entered a bright room, which was huge. The space was filled with nothing more than a mere table at the center. At the end of the room, there was a window instead of a wall.

As they sat down around the table, a couple of servants entered. Each one was carrying a plate with the best food you could ever imagine. There was plenty, and after they were done, even Rukia was full. She even refused a strawberry Hisana offered her.

Then Byakuya spoke. "Hisana, please join me in the garden."

As Hisana nodded and the two left, Harry's stomach started to protest. He didn't like the idea of Byakuya and Hisana being alone, for Harry knew what would happen. And by seeing the look on Byakuya's face, Harry knew that it would only take a couple of minutes before Hisana would agreed to become Lady Kuchiki.

Lifting Rukia, Harry walked towards the gigantic window. And indeed, Hisana and Byakuya were within his view. The twilight made the garden even more magical and the evening cold resulted Byakuya hugging Hisana.

Harry was happy for her. Hisana would do amazing as a Kuchiki, and, even though he hated himself for admitting it, Harry knew that Hisana was in love with the noble. It would be better this way.

Byakuya rested his head on top of Hisana's and Harry saw him hesitate. But then his lips formed the words "Hisana… become my wife…"

Hisana widened her eyes and turned around to face him. She asked something and Byakuya just nodded.

Tears rolled down Harry's cheeks. Rukia, also watching the happening below, hugged her little arms around Harry's neck.

If it was better this way, and Harry had accepted this… then why did it almost kill him when Hisana kissed Byakuya?

* * *

**A/N:** Poor Harry.. anyways, any critics, addings or just a need to complain? Go ahead! 


	5. Follow the stream upwards

**A/N:** Chapter five is up! Hoe you all enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** Neither Bleach nor Harry Potter are mine.

**Thank you,** Byakuxhisa4eva, for betaing! And also Shinobis Fire, for making up the ideas!

Today was one of those days where the weather influenced your mood. The early morning was sharp, for bright sunlight was illuminating the drapes of dawn. It was the perfect morning to search for food. Not many people had awakened yet and this allowed the little Rukia to run on the streets freely. She was still very playful and she hobbled her way through some alleys, lifting loose stones and she would giggle whenever she saw sow-bugs scurrying away.

After eating, Harry and Rukia sat down on a tree branch, making light conversation. It wasn't smooth talk, but Rukia enjoyed the fact that she too was able to talk. If only a little.

"So Rukia, what are you in for today?" he asked. He tried not to chuckle when the little girl put her hand up to her chin, as if thinking very deeply.

"I… wunna to go fish for Hisana-nee," she then said, waving her arms up in the air.

"You want to go fishing for Hisana? Where?"

Rukia started to giggle as she pointed to some unwanted boxes in an alley near the forest.

"Eh.. Rukia, fish live in the water, not in carton cubicles." Harry pointed out, amused.

"So?" Rukia replied stubbornly.

Harry grinned. She had learned to reply like that from him. He loved the way she would use his own words against him.

"So I don't think there will be any fish."

Rukia pouted before she looked around.

"Then flowers? For Byaku too!"

Harry hid a small smirk.

Hisana didn't like the name that Harry had taught Rukia. She had begged both Harry and Rukia to say 'Byakuya', either with or without title, and to stop using the name 'Byaku'. But to her horror had Rukia just laughed and she continued crying, "Byaku! Byaku!"

They missed Hisana. She had moved into the Kuchiki-mansion a couple of months ago. She had promised to visit Harry and Rukia every day, a promise she shouldn't have made. Everyday, Rukia waited eagerly to meet her sister again, and it broke her heart whenever Hisana sent a messenger, telling them that 'Kuchiki-sama had returned home early today.' or something else happened.

Sooner or later, Harry knew, she would stop visiting them altogether.

Harry knew what it was like to be abandoned. The Dursleys had never really liked him and they have never been there for him.

"Flowers it is, then." Harry said.

Rukia jumped up and ran off to the forest. It surprised Harry how she had learned to run this fast. Her short legs moved very quick and Harry actually had to exert a lot of energy to keep up with the little girl.

While they were searching for flowers, Rukia suddenly came to a halt.

"Why's today special?" she asked, confused.

"Ghah, Rukia, how many more times do I have to explain this?" Harry said, overdramatically.

Rukia giggled. "What?"

"Today, Byaku and Hisana are getting married."

Rukia nodded, eyes wide, as if hearing a fairytale.

"It means that two people who are in love with each other are going to show to everyone they want to be together forever."

Another nod on Rukia's side.

"We are not going to the ceremony or the reception, but we'll see Hisana tonight, after the wedding."

Rukia seemed confused.

"Why we not going? Hisana-nee doesn't love us?"

'Shit' was the first thought to enter Harry's mind. He couldn't explain why he didn't want to go, so he made something up. Something which was rather true to himself as well.

"Of course she loves us. But it would be too painful for us. It would feel like saying goodbye forever. Would you want that?"

Rukia looked down and shook her head. "No."

With this, their conversation ended. Rukia kept looking for flowers and Harry helped her by arranging them. They had just finished the bouquet when Harry felt it again: the weird feeling of an invisible blanket covering him. But soon enough he recognized a second blanket. Harry scowled and turned around.

"Byakuya."

"Potter," came the reply.

Byakuya stepped forward, a cold look into his eyes.

"What do you want?"

The noble didn't seem to appreciate the rude way Harry spoke to him, but Harry couldn't care less.

"I want to take Rukia with me."

"…You what?"

Words started to fail Harry. He had definitely not seen this coming. Without realising it, and while recovering from the first shock, he had pulled Rukia behind his back, so Byakuya had to move Harry before he could reach the little girl.

"Did Hisana ask you to do this?" Harry grunted.

The heir shook his head. "I want Rukia to be part of the Kuchiki-clan. I notice sadness in Hisana's eyes everytime she is talking about her sister. I want to take Rukia in as our daughter, for a wedding gift."

"Last time I checked, Rukia is Hisana's _sister, _not her daughter!" Harry spat.

Byakuya's eyes narrowed. "I will not leave without her."

Harry shrugged in response. "Poor Hisana, waiting for her husband to be, waiting and waiting… I thought she told you Rukia would stay with me?"

"She did," Byakuya said. Harry swore he saw Byakuya's eyes twitching uncomfortably, but he didn't have much time to think about it. Byakuya continued. "However, if Rukia comes with us, Hisana would be sure about her whereabouts and safety."

He wasn't done talking when Harry interrupted. "Hisana knows Rukia is safe with me. Otherwise she wouldn't have left her here. Now leave, you have a wedding to attend and I'm pretty sure they wouldn't hesitate to cancel it if you didn't show up."

Harry turned around, seized Rukia's wrist and they walked away. Only a couple of seconds later, Harry felt the blanket of Byakuya reiatsu disappear.

Harry smirked. He had won this battle.

He and Rukia walked for a couple of minutes, approaching the woods of Inuzuri and home. But when they were about to cross the crossroad, someone crashed into Harry and they both fell onto the dirt road. Hard.

"Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiie!" A woman's voice shrieked.

This was followed by laughter. A man's voice cheered and then he clucked his tongue.

"Come on, Rangiku-chan, ya bein' rude."

Harry groaned and managed to turn around. He saw nothing more than something black being pushed in his face. With the next comment made, Harry swallowed and started to blush like an idiot.

"Ne, stranger, I prefer you to take ya nose out of my friends chest."

Indeed. When the woman stood up, her large chest hovered above Harry's face. Harry rolled to the side and stopped at Rukia's feet. Rukia was watching her own chest, as if comparing it to the woman's. She then looked down at Harry, puzzled, as if asking him how it came that she was flat.

"Oh, pardon me, I was being chased by this freak. I took his shoelace and he didn't really seem to appreciate it." The woman offered Harry her hand, which he took. Now Harry could see the face of the woman. She had cheerful features and a rather sharp chin, with large blue eyes. She was well-developed, though in Harry's mind, he was sure that she was over-developed. Her orange hair dangled gently in her face.

The man behind her had a grin plastered on his face, looking like he had slept with a banana in his mouth. His silver hair hung over his closed eyes, which seemed to be unnaturally slitted.

"I'll introduce us. I'm Rangiku Matsumoto and the guy over there is Gin Ichimaru," the woman named Rangiku said.

"Harry Potter. This is Rukia. Eh… pleased to meet you." Harry replied. He didn't know if he was really pleased. Bumping into someone's chest and then being humiliated by that person's friend wasn't really his favourite way of meeting people.

"Ah, anyway, we were just going to that huge wall which separates Seireitei from Rukongai." Rangiku said, while bouncing on the spot. "Will you two join us? It'll be so much fun!"

"Ok!" Rukia shrieked, clenching the flowers in her hand.

Harry grinned and nodded. He and Rukia could wait over there until they could go and see Hisana.

During the walk, the four had several things to talk about. They had just finished on the subject about how they had come into Soul Society when Gin asked Harry a rather surprising question.

"So when are ya starting' at the academy?"

"Eh… I don't think I will, actually. And otherwise, Rukia isn't big enough to watch herself." Harry had thought about the academy ever since Hisana had told him about it, at their first meeting.

"I am big!" came the respond from below. Rukia had placed her hands on her hips and looked up at Harry. She pouted.

"Of course you are, little kid," Harry laughed.

"Ya know, Rangiku-chan and I grew up in a little building, together with other kids. We had food and water near, livin' close to a river. Ya can put Rukia-chan in there and check on her every time ya want to." Gin suggested.

Harry wanted to protest, but Rangiku cut him off. "Yeah! It's good for her independency and stuff!"

Harry sighed. "I promised a friend I would watch over her. And I don't want her to be on her own."

"We're close to it, wanna go see it?" Gin asked, ignoring Harry's words.

"Ah… sure, why not." Harry mumbled.

They headed to a river and followed the stream upwards. It was a quiet place to be, as there were only a few people around. After a five-minute walk, a small, wooden hut showed itself in the shade of a large tree. Kids played around the place and a group of four boys came running to them, carrying little sacks of food. They were obviously led by the boy with the bright red hair. Kids laughed and waved at Rukia, whom started to run to the kids of her age to play along in the sand. While running, she dropped the flowers and Harry picked them up.

It was indeed a nice place. Rukia had fun playing with the kids of her own age and it would be better if she stayed with them. If Rukia were be old enough, she would probably want to start at the academy herself.

"The school ain't far from here," Gin mentioned. "Ya can go an' visit her whenever ya want."

The idea suddenly became very tempting to Harry. When he graduated, he could take Rukia into Seireitei as well. But before he made a decision, he needed to talk to Hisana.

As Rukia continued playing and Harry, Gin and Rangiku sat under the large tree, talking and the day passed by. Only when it got dark, did Harry decided to take Rukia to Hisana. He thanked his companions and they agreed to meet each other the next day.

Rukia was tired, and so she rode on Harry's back the way to the Kuchiki-mansion.

Hisana was waiting on the veranda. When she saw the two coming, she waved happily to them. She shrieked Rukia's name and the said girl bounced off Harry's back to run towards her sister.

"Did you miss me?" Hisana asked as Rukia pulled her into a tight embrace.

"We did," Harry answered. "We haven't seen you in two weeks!"

Hisana turned around and hugged Harry too. When she pulled back, she said, "They needed me to help plan the wedding."

"And you had absolutely no time to come and see your sister?"

Hisana looked away and Harry felt guilty.

"Ah, congratulations, by the way. I hope you two will make each other really happy." said Harry, trying to sound honest. And seeing Hisana's eyes lit up, he knew he had succeeded.

"Oh," Hisana said, ignoring the uncomfortable glance in Harry's eyes. "I need to show you something."

She smiled and took Rukia's hand. With her other hand she waved to Harry to follow her.

Harry was surprised to see Hisana lead them off the Kuchiki-grounds. They walked for a good couple of minutes, the sky getting darker and the condition colder. The three walked up a small hill covered with bushes. And even though spring had begun four weeks earlier, Harry was surprised to see the leaves green and open already. Hisana took them to a shrub which was the least bloomed of all. She pointed at it and said, "This is the eldest bush in Seireitei. Stories tell us that this one only exposes itself at full moon, and only to people who need their lives back on track."

Silence fell. This was a very important moment to Hisana, Harry could tell.

He smiled.

"Hisana," he said in a whisper. He felt that this was the best moment to start on the subject.

Hisana mumbled a soft 'yes?', waiting for the rest.

"I want to start at the academy. As a shinigami, I should be able to protect Rukia much better. When Rukia is older, there is a place in Rukongai to live, but actually, I doubt the location. But it's not far from here and not far from the academy, so we could see her anytime we want. Although I wanted your opinion on this, before I would make a stupid decision."

Hisana sighed and folded her fingers together. "Oh… Well, I can't say I haven't seen it coming. But what will happen to Rukia?"

This was definitely unexpected to Harry. Hisana had just given her approval for him to go live somewhere without Rukia? This did made everything less complicated. But they couldn't leave a two-year old to live on her own, could they?

"Of course not," Hisana replied. She watched Harry and he realized that he must've thought outloud.

"I met two people today who grew up together in a shelter. But I really don't want that for Rukia."

Hisana looked away and she let her eyes linger on the legendary bush.

"One of my friends grew up in a family. They take in every child who need their help. They have good connections to Seireitei and so they can easily get to food and health supplies. We can ask them to watch her, and of course will we visit her as much as possible, right?" Hisana said.

Harry watched her. "Yeah, I suppose."

In the meantime, Rukia had stood beneath them and she watched up. She moved her gaze from Hisana to Harry and back to Hisana. Even though she was little and she couldn't talk as well as older people, she did understand what was going on. And she didn't seem to like it. Silent tears crept down her cheeks as she realized that she had not only lost her sister, but also her supposed brother. Harry and Hisana seemed to have heard one of her small sobs, because both of them were now looking down.

"Rukia," Hisana said calmly, scooping the little girl into her arms. "We won't leave you, ever. I promise. And you know, we will come to visit you every da-"

"Don't say that," Harry interrupted. "You promised her the same thing once and you didn't keep your promise. We can't be sure about a daily visit, so don't get her hopes up."

The new Kuchiki closed her eyes and nodded. "Every week, at least. And if someone has a problem with it, I will come anyway. No matter what, ok?"

Harry wanted to throw another comment at her ("And what if there is another wedding to plan?") but he didn't. He knew that this time she would keep to the promise, and so would he.

"The day after tomorrow, we will go visit that family," Harry said and Hisana nodded. Tomorrow wouldn't be convenient, for it was the day after the wedding and Harry would meet Rangiku and Gin again.

And as Hisana, Rukia and Harry watched the stars, someone came to a halt at the foot of the hill. He looked up and saw his new wife with her friend and sister. A small smile came onto his face as he watched them. Hisana seemed happy to see them again. And, the man noticed, the old bush near the three people gave off a little glow before its flowers and knobs closed. Yes, this man could be happy again.

**A/N:** Byakuya is so sweet.. xP


	6. She ran off

**A/N:** Okay, so this is like.. really late. I have been having some personal problems, and due to this, I'm afraid the updates won't be really regular and I really can't tell when the next chapter will be up. Also, I know this chapter sucks, but my friend Anouk (xNouk) really helped me out with it. She pushed me and forced me into writing, she helped me build up this chapter. Thank you, Nouk!

**Disclaimer:** Nope, not mine!

**Thank you;** Shinobis Fire, for the complete idea of the story. Byakuxhisa4eva, for beta-ing, and Nouk for forcing me into writing!

* * *

Harry awoke the next morning with a yawn. He lay on his back and watched some birds fly through the air. Dawn was long past, and the sunlight strong, he noticed he and Rukia had been sleeping for much longer than usual. Guessing that it should be around noon already, Harry expected him and Rukia were already late for their meeting with Gin and Rangiku by now.

He poked Rukia awake, and as a result she pouted and mumbled something about 'meany' or 'sleepy', Harry couldn't figure out. He didn't really care either. He lifted her and started to run, with an empty stomach growling, much to Rukia's amusement. Whenever Harry's stomach would growl, Rukia would poke him and grin.

Several minutes and pokes later, Harry and Rukia arrived at the large tree near the children's shelter. To his biggest surprise, the area was empty, except for a couple of kids. There was no sign of Rangiku or Gin.

Harry put Rukia down, who ran off to her new friends immediately, and he leaned against a large oak tree. He managed to suppress a yawn caused by the warmth of the day. For spring, the sun was extremely warm and with the small amount of water Harry had had, a headache soon developed. Groaning, he massaged his temple, and just when the pain in his head seemed to drip away, a high voice shrieked in his ear.

"Hey, Harry-san!"

Harry yelled in surprise and jumped up. Next to him were the grinning Rangiku and a smiling Gin. They both looked really pleased with themselves. _I wonder why_, Harry thought wryly.

But then his headache returned and he had the urge to thank Rangiku by punching her. To bad it was one of his moral not to hit women.

"Hey yourself. You two are late!" Harry managed to say in between gritted teeth.

Rangiku nodded. "Yeah, we just got back from the academy. We got three registration forms from them!"

"Already? I don't even know yet what I'm going to do with Rukia." Harry thought outloud. Gin and Rangiku looked at each other and Gin started to smile even wider.

"Ne, ya know, we'll find som'thing for her."

Harry shuddered. Gin was intimidating, his plastered smile and his slitted eyes. No wonder Rukia kept running away from him.

"Thanks for the offer, but no thanks," Harry replied. Gin seemed a little puzzled, but his smile kept stuck on his face.

"I am going visit someone tomorrow, together with Rukia's sister, and we'll decided then. Can you wait another day?" Harry said quickly, after seeing Gin's face.

"Her sister? Make sure you say hi! And nooooow, Rangiku and I have to collect our stuff! Good luck, Harry-chan!" Gin cheered.

"Thanks. Oh, when are we supposed to be at the academy?" Harry asked, while he gestured Rukia to come.

Rangiku answered quickly. "Next week, you just have to join us! It'll be fun!"

"Oh, great. Yeah, thanks," Harry said tiredly. He and Rukia waved goodbye to the two and left.

--

Harry and Rukia found a quiet place to sleep that night. They had to get up early, for Hisana wanted to get to her friends as soon as possible. Now the two they were walking towards the Kuchiki-mansion, and Rukia had fallen asleep on Harry's back. Hisana giggled when she saw them approaching her.

"She was tired?"

Harry grinned. "Kinda."

Hisana smiled. "Let's go."

They started to walk towards the first district. Hisana was happily blabbering about what she had done in the mansion so far, how it felt like to be married and how she hoped that Harry would experience such thing in his life.

"It's so nice! I feel really safe with Byakuya-sama. Like, only yesterday, there was this guy. He walked toward me and he wanted to grab my hand, and I was so scared, Harry-kun, you wouldn't know! But just before he could touch me, Byakuya-sama had seized that man's wrist and that man was so scared! I would be too, for Byakuya-sama had this... cold and destroying look in his eyes! He said 'disappear' and the man ran off. After that, Byakuya-sama hugged me and ran his fingers through my hair, it felt so good! You might not be interested in this stuff, but Harry-kun... if only you were a woman!"

Harry coughed and Hisana grinned. "There's an interesting mental image," Harry laughed. "Let me try it once."

"Really? I never expected anything like that from you." Hisana said, while getting something from the bag she had taken with her.

When she pulled out a pink coat and offered it to Harry, Rukia started to laugh too.

"You wait, Rukia. I'll make you wear a tuxedo once," Harry grinned when he accepted Hisana's coat. He observed it and noticed little flowers stitched onto it. With a sigh, he put his left arm in the sleeve.

"You know," Harry said while he put his other arm in the sleeve, "I'm only doing this in memoriam to one of my friends in the material world. The year before I died, there was a dance at our school and his mother made him wear a tux which… sucked. Everyone thought he had to wear his sister's dress… but it was his own. We laughed at him behind his back, actually. He knew, though. He laughed with us, and I made a mental note to make it up to him about me for the same thing. Though he's not here, I can assure you he has been thinking about me in a dress."

Hisana smiled softly. "You're so kind, Harry-kun…"

Harry shook his head. "Believe me, he'd laugh his head off."

Hisana grinned and Harry took off the coat. They had just walked for another five minutes when Hisana stopped.

"Can we sit down for a bit?" she asked, suddenly looking very exhausted. Harry nodded surprised and followed her to a place to sit.

"You no feel good?" Rukia asked while putting a little arm around her sisters' back. Hisana looked at her and for a split second, Harry saw confusion in her eyes. What was wrong with her? A second later, Harry had pulled Rukia away and he sat down in front of her.

"Hisana?"

There was a soft groan as a respond. Just when Harry wanted to call out her name again, she jumped up and shrieked: "Just a head rush! Don't worry, let's go!"

But when she had walked several meters, she stopped and spun around, putting a hand against her head. Harry ran towards her and gently took her arm, hoping that she could lean upon him.

"Who…"

"Harry. It's Harry. Come on, sit down."

Without asking, Hisana obeyed what Harry had asked from her. She sat down, leaned backwards against a tree and closed her eyes, while inhaling deeply. This wasn't good. Rukia approached, holding Hisana's bag. She got out a bottle of water and offered Hisana some. With help from Harry, Hisana managed to drink a few sips. But she had gotten pale and really weak.

"Hisana?"

Hisana's eyes shot open at hearing the new voice. She wanted to sit up, but a heavy feeling upon her chest prevented her from doing so.

"Byakuya-sama?" she whispered.

Byakuya sat down next to Hisana and put a hand against her forehead. Suddenly, Harry didn't mind the entire marriage-thing anymore. Byakuya looked terrified and worried, and Harry finally realized that the noble really did love Hisana.

Harry pushed those thoughts aside. Now, all that mattered was that Hisana would be okay.

Byakuya put his arm behind her back and her other under her knees and lifted her gently bridal style.

"Potter… what happened exactly?"

"I don't know. First, she was all happy, but then she asked if we could take a break since then she felt tired. Rukia gave her water, but she could hardly swallow."

Byakuya nodded, his eyes fixed upon Hisana's face. "I'm taking her home. You take Rukia to the place Hisana wanted to take you. Go straight ahead, and you'll see a fine house, standing on its own. There are probably children running around. Good luck."

Harry nodded and took hold of Rukia's hand. "I'll come and tell her how it went later, then. Make sure she'll be okay."

Without a reply, Byakuya and Hisana disappeared on the spot. Harry sighed and looked down at the little girl next to her.

"So. Let's go, then."

--

Hisana lay in bed, a cup of rapidly cooling tea next to her and a thick blanket covering her body. She seemed to feel a bit better, but color had not yet returned to her face. Harry sat next to her, telling her about how it had been with Rukia. The sun had set already, so the room was lit with several candles. Do not light the lamp, Byakuya had said, for the brightness might increase Hisana's headache.

"We entered the house after a woman welcomed us. Rukia was invited to come play in the garden by two kids. Weird kids. The girl was very sweet but was really… you know, loud, and this little boy had white hair. Yes, entirely white. So Rukia went off to play. The woman and I talked about opportunities and stuff, and she said that she would be honored to take care of Rukia! I told her about your marriage, my thoughts about entering the academy, and she understood the situation." Harry said.

Hisana didn't interrupt, there was no reason to. She smiled at hearing that everything would be okay with her beloved sister.

"Can we visit?" she asked.

Harry nodded. "Anytime we want. Rukia is there right now, to see if she fits in so everything will be all right when we're not around."

Hisana smiled and closed her eyes tiredly. She yawned and slowly tried to sit up. Seconds later, Harry handed her the glass of tea and she sipped a bit of it. The heat of the drink had it's effect on Hisana's face; her cheeks got a little of their original color back.

The sound of a door opening reached Harry's ears and he turned around to see Byakuya walking in. He sat down next to Hisana and felt her forehead again. "The doctor informed us it was only a flu… but she seems unnaturally warm for it to be just the flu." he said, letting his eyes rest on Hisana's.

"It's getting dark. Maybe I should leave," Harry said, suddenly feeling uncomfortable near the couple.

No response from Hisana, but Byakuya nodded, not averting his gaze from Hisana.

Harry stood up, allowed himself one more glance at Hisana and then left.

--

A week has passed since Harry had left Rukia at the house of children, which family name was revealed to be 'Hinamori'. This meant that today was the day that Harry would be tested at the academy, to see if he was fit to become a shinigami. Personally, he doubted it. He still was a wizard, wasn't he? So, without any high hopes, Harry took off to wait for Rangiku and Gin at their designated spot, and quickly met up with each other.

"Harry-kun!" Rangiku yelled happily.

Harry grinned and waved in respond.

"Shall we move on to the academy, then?" Harry proposed. His two companions nodded and they took off. During their walk, they talked about new opportunities, chances they could get and what kind of division they wanted to join.

"I want a cute captain," Matsumoto said at once.

Gin grinned. "Sure. I wan' a determined one."

They turned to Harry. "How about you, Harry-kun?"

Harry thought about this for a while. "I… think someone who you can laugh with… but also who can be extremely serious. Someone who knows what he or she is doing. I'd like that."

Rangiku started to pout. "Ah, Harry-kun, you're too serious! Why not a hot girl for you? I heard the second division has a female captain! And fourth as well, but hey, she's too old for you, anyway."

Harry started to turn red and stared into distance. "I'll stay with Lupin. No, that captain. Damn it, forget what I said."

Without waiting for an answer, Harry quickened his pace. He didn't know which way to go to, but he wanted to push out the upcoming thoughts of Lupin, Hogwarts, his friends and everything else he was about to replace in his new life. A new school, new friends, new future. Probably new enemies, new fights and new teachers. This was going to be harder than he had expected.

The day went by in a blur for Harry. He didn't remember anything more than making tests about common knowledge, reiatsu tests and health checks. That evening, he, Rangiku and Gin sat in a room at the academy, waiting for their results. Harry was lost in his memories. Gin and Rangiku had noticed that something was wrong, but they didn't dare to start on his feelings. When Rangiku started to say something after a ten-minute silence, the door flung open to revealed a man holding a clip-board.

"Rangiku Matsumoto, Gin Ichimaru and ..Harry Potter?" he asked. The three nodded.

The man grinned. "Congratulations, all of you! You made it!"

* * *

**A/N:** And they're in! Next chapter, a new character will appear. Ghehe. You may guess who!


	7. Just yet

**A/N:** Yaaaay, update's here! I know it's been a long time.. but school and stuff came in between!

Hope you like it!

**Thanks to** ByakuxHisa4eva, this chapter is as good as it is now! And Shinobis Fire came up with the idea of this story!

* * *

"Potter, pay attention!"

Harry's head shot up to look into the eyes of their Kidou-teacher. Mr. Gentaru wasn't the nicest of people, and in the nine days Gin, Rangiku and Harry had been in the academy, all three of them had had detention twice already.

"Yes sir," Harry mumbled.

The previous class, Gentaru had asked where Harry had left his mind.

Earlier, during practical class, instead of using the binding spell number one; Sai, had he put his hand in front of him, yelling 'petrificus totalis', as if he was still in his own world. Also, instead of firing a destructive spell, he used, out of habit, 'stupefy'.

Needless to say, their teacher wasn't all that happy with Harry. During classes, he hadn't managed to use Kidou yet, which was odd to Harry. After all, he had used Kidou several times without knowing he did.

Doing the best he could, Harry concentrated on the enormous spell he had to learn once more. Something with wings.. and bears? No, wait, two bears. No bears. What?

How long will it take before Rukia would be able to attend the academy? She was three years old now. If he would graduate in five years, Rukia'd be eight.  
Harry didn't want her to start until she was at least fifteen, so she could be wise enough to make the decision for herself, just like he had… Then she'd be twenty when she graduated and old enough to enter Seireitei.

"You are absolutely useless, Potter! What the hell do you think you're doing in class?"

Gentaru's voice cut the air and Harry looked up, surprised. He almost gasped by seeing their teacher standing in a very weird angle, avoiding some Kidou Harry had accidentally shot at him.

"Get OUT! Go see the other Kidou teacher, I refuse to teach the likes of _you_ anymore! Get OUT, OUT, OUT!"

Collecting his stuff as fast as possible, Harry evaded any contact with Rangiku and Gin as he ran out of the classroom.

That other teacher… what was his name again? Harry ran through the building, which was (at least to Harry) even more complicated than the Hogwarts castle. Every hallway looked like the other, while in Hogwarts the corridors at least moved or something. And now Harry thought of it, he surprised himself by ever even figuring out how he was able to find his way around Hogwarts.

Within minutes, Harry found himself standing in front of the teacher's office. Feeling rather nervous, he knocked on the door.

"Aaah, getting honored by a student during classes? Come on in, come on in, make yourself comfortable!"

Hesitating a bit, Harry reached for the door knob and opened it. Inside sat a man at his desk, playing with a fan. His blond hair hung lazily over his eyes and when he stood up, Harry heard taps from the wooden sandals the man wore.

"Hiya! My name is Urahara Kisuke. Who am I talking to?"

A little perplexed, Harry muttered, "Harry Potter, sir."

The man, Urahara, grinned widely. "Take a seat, then! What has your lovely mind decided to cause this little visit?"

"Eeh," Harry said, feeling rather uncomfortable. "I-.. didn't really focus during Kidou-class and the teacher didn't appreciate me firing at him..?"

The grin on Urahara's face grew.

"Ah, Gentaru-san, am I right? Let him talk to me!" he sang.

While he proceeded to leave the room, Harry turned around, jaw hanging open. He didn't have a punishment? No writing lines while Urahara was gone?

But no matter what his punishment was, Harry didn't mind any of it. He'd choose it any day over sitting in Snape's office.

However, several minutes of waiting later, when Urahara re-entered the room with a smirk on his face which couldn't mean anything good, Harry doubted his decision.

"This time, you won't get any punishment. You'll be getting a warning! Any more of those silly antics and you'll be taken out of class permanently! And just to be sure… I'd be keeping an eye on you the next couple of days!"

Harry groaned. This was even worse than writing lines.

He was still angry with himself for allowing things to unravel until this point, when he heard footsteps behind him.

"Hey, Harry-san?" Matsumoto asked quietly. "Urahara-sensei came into the class. He talked to Gentaru… who was really pissed. Are you okay?"

Harry didn't react at first. Then, after finding an empty chair in their next lesson, he murmured, "Urahara will check up on me on every Kidou class the next few days."

Gin clacked his tongue. "Oh, that sucks."

Harry nodded. Not wanting to continue talking about it, he took out his notebook for the class where they studied Soul Society in general, in which they studied about duties, hollows, plusses and such. Harry liked this class; it was just theory, so little possibility to screw something up.

Ignoring the paper airplanes that Rangiku sent Gin, Harry took a pen and started to copy down the notes.

--

"He's awfully bad at… everything!"

"Our oath is to give everyone a chance. Even people who suck in everything."

"Really? He blew up my hair!"

"I prefer haircut than the previous one, actually. Not bad."

"He's not good with the sword, he hasn't fired one proper ball of Kidou yet, shunpo is far out of his reach and don't even get me started on how clumsy his feet are working."

"Maybe it is an idea to give him extra lessons."

"Wouldn't mind. As long as I'm not supposed to be the idiot to teach him more hours than I am forced to do already."

"Then who would be stupid enough to teach him?"

"Aahh, hellooooo! Am I disturbing your charming conversation? … what are you two looking at..?"

--

With their bags hanging over their shoulders, Rangiku and Harry hurried towards their Zanpakutou-training. They just had lunch, or to be more specific, they had had a food fight. Unfortunately (for him), Gin was the only one who was busted while shooting peas towards Rangiku. For this, Gin was assigned to extra cleaning-duties.

But before they could reach the door, a voice made them stop.

"Potter. Come with me. Matsumoto, get inside."

Rangiku shot a questioning glance to Harry. He shrugged and waved before she walked in. Harry himself strolled towards Gentaru, who was the voice that had called him. Gentaru stood with his arms crossed, a frown plastered upon his face.

"Urahara just took a look into your file. For some unknown reason to me, you're supposed to be interesting. Go see him, right now."

Standing there surprised, Harry didn't move at first. But then Gentaru went inside of his class with his usual 'Shut up!' as start of the lesson, and he shut the door.

While walking down the corridor, Harry wondered what he had done wrong this time. Maybe Gin was tired of cleaning himself and had he invited Harry to join him, by betraying him to a teacher? Harry shook his head at the thought. Gin was weird, but this wasn't something he would do. He wouldn't betray friends. Also, Harry had made sure not to trouble any teacher anymore. No destroying of tables or blackboards, no damage at all.

Maybe this was about yesterday, Harry thought, where he had swung his practice-weapon around too wildly and he had broken several windows.

Considering just walking back to his bedroom and pretending to be sick, Harry heard his name being called. "Ah, Harry-san! Over here!"

Harry spun around and saw Urahara Kisuke walking towards him. The man was wearing his odd slippers again and the fan hung on a belt around his waist. Waving his arms around, it was hard not to make fun of him. If only he wasn't a teacher.

"Urahara-sensei," Harry spoke.

Urahara grinned and patted Harry on the shoulder. "No need to be so formal with me. Come on, to the outside grounds!"

Not trusting his ears, Harry asked, "Outside?"

Urahara nodded happily and took the lead. He paced through the corridor and went to the right, where the exit of the school was located. Opening the door, he made a gentle gesture for Harry to go first. Harry did what he was told and made his way out. "Where to now, sir?"

Urahara pointed to a big field of grass, which was used as a sporting field. "We'll try out Kidou there! I've heard you don't do well in class, even though it is certain that you've used Kidou before! Am I right?"

Harry shrugged. "Dunno."

The next pat (more like slap, Harry thought wryly) on his shoulder was so rough that he started to cough. "Oh, don't be modest, Harry-san! The lovely lady Kuchiki told me!"

The thing to worry about now, to Harry, was what Urahara had to do with Hisana. "You've talked to her?"

Urahara nodded. "Hmhm! She's very fond of you, Harry-san! Told me you saved her sister!"

"Eeh," Harry said, remembering the day he had found Rukia and Hisana again, after her departure. Hisana being attacked and Rukia sitting, unharmed, on a tree branch. "Sure," he said.

"You know," Urahara changed the subject, "people think you suck at school!"

Geez, Harry's mind was screaming. He was doing the best he could! "Isn't that true, sir?" he said, annoyed.

"No, it isn't! It's motivation. Never really had that at school, have you?"

Grunting, Harry denied it. "I have motivation to graduate, I just don't like bragging about it."

Nonchalantly waving his hand, Urahara blew Harry's words away. "We're here!"

They were standing in the middle of the field, which was surrounded by several bushes. At each of the corners were small constructed shelters, which were protecting the material for practical-lessons. Other than that, the field was entirely empty.

"Shall we get our equipment, then?" Urahara said, now in a rather serious tone.

Harry nodded. "But, sir, what exactly are we going to do?"

Urahara didn't respond. Instead, he opened one of the shelters and pulled out a human body. Or, that was what Harry assumed it was. Until Urahara laughed and said, "It's a gigai. No matter how special you are, I'm not killing anyone for you just yet."

Harry grinned. "Wouldn't want you to, sir."

Urahara chuckled and put the gigai up against a wall. Then he took wide steps, to measure distance between goal and Harry. After what seemed to be like fifty feet, Urahara called, "Harry-san, come here, please!"

Harry listened and walked to Urahara.

"Harry-san, we'll be training you for the use of Kidou. I want you to remember the times you've used Kidou and try to get the feeling that went through your body. The field is covered by a barrier, so whenever you would want to release it to a teacher who is coincidentally walking outside, you wouldn't be able to do so. Also, I'm the only one inside of it who can lift the Kidou, so blowing me up wouldn't be an option either."

Harry groaned.

Then he remembered the day he 'died'. Stuck within the barrier, desperate to get out of it. Only at the point of no way out, Harry had felt something surge inside of him. The same powers he had felt to use to save Hisana. Also desperate to save her, he had trusted his feelings to help him out. But how was he going to control all that?

Concentrating with all his strength, Harry closed his eyes and sweat started to form on his forehead. His mind screaming for help from anything inside him possible, Harry had the urge to scream himself as well.

Then the familiar feeling sparked up a bit. It entered his body together with a whispering voice, and try as he might, Harry could not hear what it was saying. Perhaps the voice was telling him what to do. Harry was exhausting his body to do whatever he wanted it to do, when suddenly, a hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"End it, Harry-san."

Urahara's voice was heavy, and his eyes were piercing through Harry's.

"What happened?" Harry asked. He was quite sure that he was close to mastering Kidou, and Urahara had prevented him from doing so.

"You were doing fine. Until a voice yelled at you, and you didn't respond."

Harry shook his head. "I heard some whispers, but I didn't know what it was saying. Is it of that much importance?"

Urahara's eyes widened. "You didn't.. the screaming.. Harry-san, what happened when you heard it?"

Starting to feel rather odd, Harry answered, "I dunno. I felt something like the previous times I've used Kidou and then a soft voice started to talk."

Urahara didn't answer. He just nodded and patted Harry on the shoulder again.

"Let's get you inside. Have dinner and make sure not to go to bed too late."

--

Sunday was the academy's day off, and so Harry found himself walking in Rukongai. He had found enough spare time in between doing his homework and so he had decided to visit Rukia. And to his biggest surprise, he had found Hisana sitting in the kitchen of the Hinamori-resident as well.

"Hey!" Harry said, rather bewildered.

Hisana glanced over her shoulder and her eyes started to twinkle when she saw her friend. "Harry-kun! It's been so long! How have you been?"

Harry pulled out a chair from under the table and sat down, grinning. "Nice to see you again, Hisana. How's Rukia doing?"

As if she had heard him, Rukia came walking through a door, carefully holding two cups of water. But the moment she saw Harry, she let most of it spill out, causing Hisana to hurry towards her sister and take over the drinks. "Go, Rukia. He's here for you!"

Not needing to be told a second time, Rukia skipped towards Harry and climbed onto his lap. Closing her small arms around Harry's neck, she said happily, "Hallypuh came, too!"

Patting the girl over her head, Harry made a face. "I do hope that you know my name by now…"

Rukia grinned. "Uhu! But you'll always be Hallypuh."

Hisana chuckled. "Have you noticed the progress in her talking? She's talking everybody's ears off, she is! With all those people around her.. it's much different from only the two of us talking to her."

Harry nodded, when a memory came up in mind. "Hey, Hisana? When have you been talking to Urahara Kisuke?"

"Hmm?" Hisana asked, sipping her water.

Harry shifted in his seat. "He told me that you have told him that I've used Kidou once. When did you talk to him?"

Hisana thought about this for a second, before answering. "Oh, that's right! Man with blond hair and a rather rare taste in clothes? Not that I'm judging… but Byakuya-sama went to the academy to see if there was a possibility for Rukia to start the academy earlier than most people. When she's thirteen, he suggested. Rukia would be young enough to study well, and when she's graduating, she will first getting simple trainings with Byakuya-sama, so she can get more experiences. It's for her own safety."

Harry doubted this, but Hisana continued. "While Byakuya-sama was talking to the principal, I sat outside of the room. Then Kisuke-san came to me and we started to talk. He said that he had just handled something with this kid having trouble with Kidou. And I started to think about you immediately. I told him that someone once saved me with Kidou, without having ever been educated!"

Hisana was shining with gratitude when she talked. Normally, Harry would feel sad about her leaving him. But suddenly, Harry realized that he didn't miss her in that way anymore. They had rather grown apart. But the little contact they did have was really good, and he enjoyed it as much as he could.

"So that's when we concluded that you were the clumsy Kidou student." Hisana finished her story.

Harry had drifted off a bit, but he grinned. "I like the nickname."

The time went awfully fast as the three of them sat there talking. Harry could recall the feeling of this company in Rukongai, where they were fighting for survival and they were starving from hunger. They had ended up very well.

"But I'm afraid I have to take off again. I still have some undone homework left… and I'm sure that my roommate won't do it for me," Harry yawned.

Hisana smiled. "I hope it won't be this long before our next meeting, Harry-kun."

Harry returned her smile. "Me neither. Say hi to Byakuya for me."

Rukia chuckled. "Me too!"

Hisana smiled and she and Rukia waved goodbye. Even if it only was a few hours of time they had together, Hisana knew that the bond of friendship they had rebuilt would be a stronger one than ever.


	8. Only one foot away

**A/N:** Here you go, the eighth chapter! Enjoy!

* * *

He could definitely hear something around him. It was as if someone was snickering and he was in a bowl made of glass. He also felt something tingling; like a feather being caressed against his skin. Then wind blew into his ear as a phoenix entered the bowl. It sat down on Harry's shoulder, just as a large hand was slapped it.

"Gin! You freak!"

Harry jumped up out of his daydream and automatically hit Gin back out of self defense. Gin stopped blowing into Harry's ear, dropped his pen, raised his eyebrow and stopped smiling. "Ne, ya bein' too cranky… Just pay attention, the guy is talking to ya."

Harry mumbled something in an indecipherable language. He suddenly remembered that he, Rangiku and Gin were standing in a corridor, waiting for their next lesson. He then focused back on Urahara, who was standing in front of him.

"As I was saying," Urahara said, after realizing he now had regained the attention he had desired, "I want to see you once more in private, Harry-san! Are you available… tomorrow morning? Say, six o'clock?"

Harry's jaw dropped. Gin snickered.

"Six? In the morning? Why that early?"

As a reply, Urahara opened his fan and waved it in front of his face, casting a mysterious shadow on his features. Then he said in a deep voice, "Because I say so."

"I hate it when people say that," Harry said later as he, Gin and Rangiku left the corridor and were out of earshot of Urahara. "Especially when they're people who you can't refuse, like teachers."

"It can't be that bad, though," Rangiku said, putting a finger upon her chin. She pushed open a door to a next corridor. "This teacher is nice. And weird. But anyway, you'll manage, I'm sure."

"It could have been on a different day, though," Harry pointed out, while stepping through first. "It's mid-June and I don't like this time of the year anymore."

Rangiku made a big step forwards and stopped right in front of Harry, her mouth curled up into a huge grin. "You got dumped in June once?"

"I wish," Harry grumbled as he tried to pass her. "I died in June, two years ago."

"Don't be so pessimistic," Rangiku tried to cheer him up. "You have us now, there are other things to bother you!"

Harry shook his head, turned around and tried to walk past her again. She, however, kept standing in his way. "I bet there was a girl, tough."

"There were a lot of girls," Harry said. "And none of them got my interest in such way. They were my friends, and one of them was my best friends' sister. I never cared for any of them like that."

Rangiku laughed and put her hands on her hips. "There was a girl! You didn't care for one of those girls? Tell us about her! Is she pretty? What was her name?"

Harry gave up on trying to avoid her. As quickly as he could, he said, "Cho," and then he pushed Rangiku aside, walking away. As expected, she and Gin followed.

"You know, if you won't tell us more, we're going to blackmail you with that name," Rangiku purred into his ear.

"Listen," Harry said in a warning tone. "Could you just leave me alone for a minute? I really need to think things over about… like… everything! Okay? Could you please do me that favor?"

Irritated, Harry spun around and stormed away. He didn't enter the class they were supposed to be next, instead he ran outside. He left Gin and Rangiku standing there, both too surprised to speak.

The next morning at dawn, Harry found himself standing in the same field like previous days. He was covered in sweat from head to toe and all of his muscles ached, but he kept on moving. He was still stable enough to stand on his feet, but his practice-weapon lay far away from him and Harry couldn't even remember one word out of the spell of Kidou he had to use.

"Come on now, Harry-san! I'm sure you can dodge faster!" Urahara yelled from across the field. He was continually firing off Kidou, and Harry was to avoid them and eventually stop Urahara from doing so.

However, Harry had more trouble than Urahara had expected.

"I can't keep up!" Harry roared back. He had to slide away from a red canon spell, tearing his robes in the progress.

_'Pathetic.'_

"What?" Harry yelled.

Urahara stopped firing for a second, a confused expression on his face. "I didn't say anything. Except, maybe, for... Way of destruction #4: White lightening!"

_'Don't go left, he knows you'll do that.'_

Harry had no idea what was going on, but he trusted the voice in his head. Instead of falling left, he went right, and as predicted, a second shot nearly hit him. Harry widened his eyes as he realized that this lightening might have actually injured him badly.

"I don't know what that was…" Harry murmured, "but thanks. And now leave."

He expected an answer, but it didn't come. Quite relieved, Harry stood up. Then he saw his practice-weapon laying only one foot away from him. Harry bent down and grasped it. He quickly placed it in front of him.

"Here goes nothing," he murmured to himself.

_'Don't be stupid. You can't stop him with that thing.'_

"Oi," Harry panted, "will you shut up?"

He ran towards Urahara and lifted the weapon. He aimed for the stomach, but when Harry landed a hit, he hit Urahara's hand. "Tsk tsk tsk, be more careful. You are too open."

_'I told you.'_

"Can we take a break?" Harry asked Urahara. The man frowned but nodded.

Harry heaved a relieved sigh and dropped his weapon. He walked towards a corner of the field, where his belongings lay. Taking a bottle of water and greedily gulping down half of it, Harry dropped himself on the grass.

"Why the break, Harry-san?"

Harry pulled the bottle away from his lips and used his sleeve to soak up the spilled water. "I…"

"Hearing voices no one else can hear isn't a good sign," echoed Ron's voice in Harry's head.

Should he tell Urahara? The man was weird, but also very powerful and, so they say, was a captain of the thirteen squads. Urahara wouldn't laugh at Harry for something like this.

"I heard a voice, telling me what to do."

"Cool."

Harry blinked, surprised, and turned his gaze to meet Urahara's. "I don't think it is, actually."

"You don't?" Urahara asked, picking up a small blade of grass and put it in his mouth. "Why not?"

Harry thought back to his second year at Hogwarts. Hearing voices only he could hear didn't give him much joy. And he had nearly died because of a dream only he had seen. It was too big a step for Harry, he thought, to share this with Urahara.

"I just don't like it," Harry said.

There was a short pause. Urahara sucked on the blade of grass and then threw it away. He sighed.

"What's up? Why don't you like hearing voices?"

Harry stretched his arms and lay down on his back. "What makes you think something's up?"

"Because you're awfully bad at lying."

Harry laughed softly. He turned his head towards Urahara again and he started to talk. He started with explaining how he had become a wizard in the 'world of the living', how he went to Hogwarts and how this dark wizard had haunted him ever since. Harry told him about the philosopher's stone, the chamber of secrets, the secret diary which he had found, about his godfather, about how this dreams were starting to control him back then. And of course, Hermione and Ron.

Urahara blinked after hearing Harry's story. They had been talking for at least an hour and a half and the sun was now suspended high in the sky.

"Geez, there are always people who need more and more," Urahara said after a while.

Harry just nodded.

He didn't know why he had told Urahara his story. Maybe because it had bothered him ever since coming to Rukongai, for not being able to talk to anyone about it. And Urahara had this quality… which said 'I'm weird, but I'll take you seriously, so talk to me'.

"Sir? Could we keep this, you know, between us?" Harry asked awkwardly.

Urahara nodded. "Of course."

_'Good decision'_

"Oh, stuff it."

It had been three months since Harry told Urahara about his previous life. In those three months, Harry learned that the voice he had heard earlier had probably been a part of his soul, his zanpakutou. Getting in contact with it should have been a hard task, but Harry quietly preferred that it hadn't happened just yet. And not as easy as it had been.

"I still don't know why that thing started to talk," Harry said to Urahara. The two of them sat outside, having build up a relationship of trust. Urahara was extremely interested in everything Harry had to tell, and Harry was grateful that now he had somebody to listen.

"'That thing' is very important, Harry-san. Don't talk about it in such way," Urahara replied amused. "Have you heard the voice more often?"

Harry snorted. "All the time, actually. It annoys me."

_'It better does.'_

"Instead of it just telling me its name," Harry continued, "as all zanpakutou are supposed to do, it won't shut up."

Already expecting a 'just be patient' from Urahara, Harry stood up and started to pace around. "Isn't there a faster way to learn its name?"

A cry filled the air and Harry quickly turned around, his eyes wide as Urahara came flying towards him. A twinkle played within his eyes and a huge (and slightly maniac like) grin was on his face as he drew out his own zanpakutou.

"FIGHT ME, HARRY-SAN!"

"What the-"

Harry jumped aside and tried to see where Urahara went to.

_'How naïve. Try behind you.'_

Harry listened and spun around. Urahara stood five feet away from him and he leaned on his zanpakutou. Harry gulped and then said, "I can't believe you would attack from behind. That's cowardly!"

Urahara pointed a finger up in the air. "Ah, but I didn't attack you, did I?"

_'Dumdumdum.'_

Harry started to grin. "Good point. Try again."

As they ran towards each other, Harry's mind spun. He heard the voice giving him advice and Harry tried to listen to it as much as possible. However, at some points in dodging, he did what his instinct told him to do. The voice would scold at him for doing so, but Harry did manage to get away with this. And then Harry would scold back.

He was happy to finally have a smooth (well, smoother than those earlier three-sentences-talks) conversation with his zanpakutou. Even though it was discussion most of the time, they did get to bond some more.

"What now?" Harry asked softly to his zanpakutou as he hid behind a wall, panting from exhaustion.

_'You're really weak if you have to hide. Show off, Harry. You've done that before. You've faced more terrifying obstacles already. Have you forgotten about the stone, in your first year at Hogwarts?'_

Harry gasped. "How do you know?"

_'I took a shot there. Now don't make me kick your ass. Face Urahara with that Benihime-thing of his.'_

"Beni-whatty?"

A snicker from next to him made him jump. Harry turned around and saw Urahara standing nonchalantly against a tree. He brushed away some non-existing dust from his arms as he said, "Benihime."

Harry noticed the behavior and knew that training-session had ended. He sheathed his own sword and he walked towards Urahara. "I take it that that is your zanpakutou's name?"

"Yup."

"I see."

Urahara sighed deeply and he let himself fall down. Now sitting, he leaned against the three, enjoying the breeze on his skin. "It's warm."

Unsure of how to reply and whether this was another one of Urahara's mysterious ways of talking, Harry replied, "Yeah. September, thank you very much."

Urahara grinned. "I have a question."

"Hmm?"

The older man turned to his side and now tried to sit Indian style. He couldn't manage, though, and he fell backwards. Harry snickered, but Urahara disguised his mistake by putting his hands behind his head and staring to the sky. "This Voldemort-guy. D'you think he'll come for you?"

Harry groaned. "Nah. I'm dead in that world, aren't I? He doesn't need me anymore."

Silence.

Harry inhaled deep and closed his eyes. Then he, too, let himself fall down on the grass. The sun shone on his glasses and he had to take them to avoid blinding himself. "I miss my friends."

"You are very strong, Harry-san."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "I don't see the connection."

"Well," Urahara started, "in the few months you have been here, you are basically ready to graduate."

Harry's jaw dropped.

Urahara gazed at him and started to grin. "Of course not. But you are close."

"Sure," Harry mocked. "I wish."

"Want me to train you?"

Harry laughed softly. He rolled on his stomach and rested his chin in the grass, blowing to make the blades move. "Even if you are being serious, I won't see you as often as now anymore. You're leave in a week, right?"

Urahara didn't reply at first. Instead, he crawled over to Harry and sat down next to him. He lay a hand on Harry's shoulder and looked deep into the eyes. "I am serious. I'll get you out of the academy and I'll train you."

"Nice."

_'Believe him.'_

"I'm kinda having trouble believing you, too, so you better shut up," Harry replied lazily.

_'Benihime told me that Urahara Kisuke is serious about this for a while, now.'_

"Now I believe you a lot more," Harry said, making sure the sarcasm was dripping from his tone.

Urahara raised an eyebrow. He took a deep breath and held it for a while. When he exhaled, he stood up and towered up above Harry. "Listen," Urahara started. "You know that I am captain of the twelfth division. If I desire so, I could get you out of here before you could make a blink with your eye. Let me train you. You could become a seated officer in my division."

Harry had listened with his eyes wide open. "This can't be true. I've only been here for three months!"

"And two weeks," Urahara reminded Harry. "But that's not the point, Harry-san," he continued. "You are strong and not even half of your powers are unleashed yet. Even though you are not holding back."

"I don't understand," Harry said, now realizing the serious tone in Urahara's voice and the expression on his face. "What am I different than people like Rangiku or Gin?"

Urahara grinned. "That… is something we are going to find out soon."

"You mean, after you leave the academy?"

"Maybe. Probably not, though."

Suddenly, Harry realized that he didn't even know why his teacher was leaving the academy. Or why a captain would teach, anyway. So he asked.

Urahara, obviously surprised by the question, took his time to come up with an answer. "Because… Gentarou couldn't handle things on his own. And I needed time off to work on a project. So I took some of his classes. But he's gotten more stable again and now he could handle it again."

Harry let this information wash over him and he started into distance. "Wouldn't I be betraying my friends?"

"You're not leaving them."

Harry laughed softly. He and Urahara decided to let this settle inside of Harry's mind before he made his a decision. In a week, Harry would let the older man know what he had decided.

Because he couldn't make this decision on his own.


	9. Notice me enter

**A/N:** I have fallen in love with the newest YUI-single, Summer Song. Have you heard it yet? It gets me in a really good mood! Anyway, here's the next chapter for you! D

**Disclaimer:** The original storyline is from Shinobis Fire. I don't own Bleach or Harry Potter.

**Thank you!** ByakuxHisa4eva, for beta'ing!

* * *

Big deep blue eyes peered into his green ones. Matsumoto Rangiku blew her hair out of her face and folded her arms. "Explain again."

Harry refused point-blank. "No way. I've told you twice already, you should understand by now. Besides, now you know what's coming, so don't be surprised when things--"

The door of the bedroom swung open to reveal none other than Ichimaru Gin. He entered and smiled widely. "Hello! Rangiku-chan told me to come!"

Rangiku started to grin, too, and Harry didn't like it at all. She hopped off Gin's bed and walked over to Harry's. She poked him in his side and she said, happily, "Explain again, please, Harry-san!"

Harry rubbed his neck and went to lay down on his back. He motioned Gin to sit down, too, before he would explain his story. Yet another time.

"Urahara and I had a conversation a couple of days ago. He said that he could get me away from the academy and train me himself. This means that I am getting a place in his division. I won't need to take tests, 'cause I'm not prepared for them, and after his training, I'll be skilled enough to become a seated officer. Still with me?"

Rangiku pouted. "No. Explain again."

Harry groaned loudly. "You're hopeless, Rangiku! What is it that you don't understand?"

"Why would Urahara-sensei have such an interest in you? You suck at all of the classes!"

Harry sweat-dropped. "Thanks. I wouldn't know. We've been training a couple of times before and he said I was almost good enough to graduate."

Gin had his eyebrows far raised from his eyes and his smile had worn off. Rangiku had big eyes and she looked at Harry with her mouth wide open. "You trained with him? Well.. please tell me you're joking?"

When Harry shook his head, Rangiku started to laugh. "He might have taught us some Kidou," she laughed, "but I wouldn't say he's a good fighter. He seems so lame!"

Harry hit her with a pillow. Grinning widely, he said, "He's very strong. Don't underestimate him."

While Rangiku rubbed her head, Gin stood up. "I've got som'thing to tell, too."

Harry raised his eyebrows. "You finally know how to open your eyes?"

Gin actually blinked at this one, and Rangiku and Harry almost rolled over the floor from laughing. "Priceless," Rangiku said in such a low voice that only Harry could hear her. He nodded.

Gin coughed and by this, he received the attention of his friends back. "I was walking 'round the academy last night…"

"Don't make this into a drama-story and tell us your point." Rangiku yawned.

Gin shrugged. "Fine, if ya don't wanna know.."

"Tell us," Harry grinned, picking up his pillow and threatening Rangiku to hit if she interrupted again.

"So I was walkin' last night, an' I ran into a Vice-captain from Seireitei. Eeh.. wha' was his name again? Aah, Aizen or som'thing. Anyway, he said he had overseen me for sum time. Wanted to see me more often."

Rangiku let out a squeak. "Our little boy goes on a date! He's growing so fast, Harry-san.. Should we get him protect-"

"Go on," Harry said, while pushing the pillow in Rangiku's face.

"He said he was running for captain and he wanted me in his division, or som'thing. After me graduation."

Rangiku's jaw dropped. "WHAT?! So everybody has a future planned already and I still have to seduce a captain to accept me into his division?"

Harry shot her a glare and smirked. "I think you're losing your touch, Rangiku."

Fake tears entered her eyes as she screamed and jumped to her feet. "Nooooo! I bet I got a date next Saturday and you. Won't. Stop. Me!" With this, she ran out of the bedroom. In the blink of an eye she was gone, but Harry was sure that he saw a huge grin on her face. He and Gin watched each other and then smirked at each other. "I'll bet ya ten that she has a date this evenin'."

"I bet you ten that she won't get a date at all."

"Deal."

--

"Horse to D2."

Harry gazed intensely to his white horse, while Gin had question marks popping out of his head. He let his friend do whatever he liked, but Gin was very close to winning this game of chess and he wasn't going to let the said friend ruin it. Of course, Gin had almost wanted to stop the game when Harry started to complain about boring pawns. They didn't move or beat each other anymore. But instead, Gin had raised his eyebrows, shrugged and put Harry check.

"Ne, Harry-san… ya okay?"

"Shhht, if I concentrate hard enough... maybe it'll move…"

A door closed hard and Harry flinched, angry because of the lost concentration. Gin raised his eyebrows. "Move? Like... this?" He took Harry's horse and placed it on the wanted square.

Harry frowned. "Not exactly what I meant, but it _did_ work…"

While Gin put his queen on D2, pushing off Harry's horse, he said, "Ya seem to be talkin' more an' more to stuff. Why's that?"

"Talking to chess-men won't help you communicate with your zanpakutou, Harry-san," a voice suddenly whispered in his ear. A shiver went down his spine as Harry turned around and nearly hit Urahara out of defense. "Don't you sneak up to me like that!"

Urahara closed his fan and smacked Harry's hand. "Don't be so rude. I didn't sneak up, I smacked the door so you could notice me enter."

Not seeing a reason to start an argument, Harry turned back to his game of chess.

"Checkmate," Gin grinned, resting his head on his hands.

Harry groaned and moved back to Urahara. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

"Dragging you out, of course!"

Harry sighed. "Of course you are…"

Gin his jaw had dropped. Closing it again, he started to whine. "Neeee, Harry-san, I though' ya were messin' with us! Ya're really goin'?"

Harry nodded slowly. "I didn't know I'd be leaving this fast, though. I thought I would have some more time to say goodbye and pack my stuff? And I don't even know where I'm going!"

Urahara sat down on a chair and crossed his legs. "I thought so, too. But now would be more convenient for us. Tonight, Seireitei has welcomed a new captain and everyone is in a cheery mood. They won't be cross at me for bringing a student with me. And I know that you've packed your bag already."

Harry stared at him with his eyes wide open. "You said it'd be okay, because you're a captain yourself!"

Urahara grinned. "That's true. But that doesn't shut out the fact that people can get mad at me."

That moment, the door opened and revealed a very happy-looking Rangiku. In her arms, she carried several bottles of sake. "Party in Seireitei! This Kurosaki Isshin has become a captain, or so! A different awesome captain with this pink cloak gave me this, muttering something about a cranky lieutenant if-she'd-find-out, and soooo.. here I am! Take a bottle, each of you!" It was then that she noticed the fourth person in the room. "Oh, Urahara-sensei, I didn't know you were here. I'd have taken a bottle for you, too."

Urahara raised his eyebrow and shrugged. Then a smile crept up his face. "You're lucky I'm not a teacher anymore. Sake isn't allowed in the school. Pass me yours and I'll shut up."

Pouting and frowning, Rangiku handed everybody a bottle and watched Urahara with an expression that clearly said she was pissed off. Urahara _had_ noticed this, but he leaned back and took a large gulp. Harry started to laugh and walked over to Rangiku. "Take it, it's yours. I'm fine."

Not wanting to hear it a second time, Rangiku gratefully accepted the drink and she sat down on Harry's bed, Indian style.

Not much later, Harry took Urahara's bottle away and said, "If we want to leave today, you shouldn't be drinking too much."

Urahara nodded and chuckled. "Let's go, then!"

Rangiku and Gin stood up, ready to say goodbye. Rangiku gave Harry a tight hug and he and Gin shook hands, grinning a bit awkwardly. "Bye then, Harry-san."

Harry nodded and followed Urahara, who was standing outside. As Harry waved, he yelled, "I'll come to see you very soon again, okay? I won't disappoint you! Good luck with studying and stuff. Oh, and Gin, you still owe me ten!"

--

Harry followed Urahara inside Seireitei. Even though he had been there once before, together with Rukia and Hisana, his memory, apparently, had left him. He couldn't recall finding the buildings this tall and cozy, even though everything was plain white. And boring. Yet somehow, this welcoming atmosphere was making up for all of it.

Urahara led him towards a small room and held the door open for him. "Here you go! This'll be your room from now on. Go unpacking, go to sleep, and then I'll see you in the morning."

Secretly grateful and very tired, Harry dumped his bag on the floor and nodded. "Thanks, Urahara. Good night, then."

"Sleep well."

As Urahara closed the door, Harry sat down on his bed and looked around in the room. It wasn't all that large, but large enough to fit a bed, a closet and a desk. Behind a door on his left was a small bathroom with a toilet, shower and sink.

Picking his bag from the floor, Harry found his pajama's and got ready for bed. Even though his day had started off rather easy, the night had been unexpected and forced a lot of energy out of him. He would go to sleep now, and see what would be happening in the morning.

For now, he was too tired to care, anyway.

_'Good night.'_

"You too, eeh.. ehm…"

_'Still not budging.'_

"Damn."

--

"GOOOOOOOOOD MORNING, HARRY-SAN!"

As Harry quickly opened his eyes, he cursed Urahara to a far, far, _far away_ place. He managed to dodge Urahara's flying foot that crashed into the wall. Then he glanced at his alarm clock. It was five thirty AM.

"It's too early!" he complained, pulling his blanket more over his body.

"You told me it was an effective way of waking people?" a voice Harry didn't recognize said. Immediately, the boy sat up to see who it was.

The first thing that Harry noticed was the white haori the man wore. He had an unshaven chin and dark eyes, but didn't look untidy. He had his arms folded together and his zanpakutou tied on his back.

"It works with Mayuri," Urahara frowned.

Harry rubbed his eyes and suppressed a yawn. Unsuccessfully. Then he stretched his limbs, and Urahara took this opportunity to grab his wrist. "Come on, Harry-san! It's early, so Isshin and I will use this little fact of time before our captain-meeting! Training-time!"

_Isshin_, Harry thought blurrily. _I've heard that name before._

"Isshin?" Harry asked. He couldn't dodge the foot flying at him this time. The unfamiliar shinigami, to Harry, had kicked him out of bed and Harry rubbed his head.

"It's Kurosaki-captain for you!"

Kurosaki Isshin. The man whom Harry thanked last nights drinks to.

"Sorry," he mumbled, awkwardly coming to his feet. "What's with the time?"

Urahara smiled broadly. "I just told you, didn't I? Training."

Harry yawned again. "Budidontevenhafmezanpakutouyed…"

Isshin came walking over to Harry, setting firm and big steps. Two, actually, for the room wasn't that much larger. He grabbed Harry at his neck and said, "You're coming with us. It's the order of two captains and that should be reason enough not to protest."

Harry blinked a couple of times before slowly replying. "I am very sorry, Kurosaki-captain. Please leave so I can get dressed?"

Isshin's facial expression didn't change for a couple of seconds. Then his mouth went into a smirk and he release Harry. He said, while patting him on his head, "That's more like it! Hurry up."

He and Urahara left Harry in privacy to let him get ready. Harry softly laughed. If all the captains were like this, the Gotei 13 was doomed.

Very doomed.

--

Harry wiped away the sweat from his forehead. He and Urahara were at the dojo, the place for sparring which was only attainable with permission from a captain. And they trained like they had never trained before.

"Straighten your back. Don't drop your guard. Never lighten the grip on your hilt. Two feet on the ground; steady on your shoes. Don't drop your guard, Harry-san! I could've killed you there!"

"I know, I know! I'm doing the best I can!" Harry groaned, trying to avoid Urahara's zanpakutou at all costs. Yes, Urahara had decided to train Harry with his own zanpakutou, under the impression it would pressure Harry a lot more and, therefore, he'd be able to release his zanpakutou sooner. There wasn't much progress so far, but they didn't expect anything major to happen during their first training.

That was, until Harry got distracted and received a full blow of Benihime to his stomach.

He passed out immediately.

The moment Harry opened his eyes, he had expected to see somebody hovering above him, as he was so used to in his many years at Hogwarts. Or at least to be in a room with a clean white ceiling and plain white walls, lying on a bed with thin sheets. But nothing of the fore mentioned were present.

Harry groaned and pushed himself into a sitting position. To his biggest surprise, he noticed when he sat up quite easily and the wound in his stomach was no longer there. And he was _sure_ that Urahara had cut him badly.

Harry was still inspecting his stomach when he realized that something didn't fit. Of course, he wasn't anywhere near Urahara or Kurosaki anymore, neither did it look like he was somewhere inside Seireitei at all… it felt like he had visited this place before. At night.

A horrendous thought entered his mind. _He had just entered the graveyard where he and Cedric had been sent in the final task of the Tri-wizard Tournament._ It had been a dark night then, but now… feeble rays of sunlight fell over Harry, casting a small shadow behind him. But not only the light was different. Now that Harry paid more attention to his surroundings and not to his mysteriously healed stomach, he noticed that there were no tombstones around, except for a very large one that stood conspicuously out of the barren landscape.

Abashed, Harry stood up and walked over to the stone so large that it could reach heaven. He reached out to brush his fingers against the untouched marble, and was shocked to find some kind of invisible force protected it.

"You will be able to touch it when you learn my name," a voice from behind said, making the hair in Harry's neck stand up straight.

Harry turned around to see somebody who certainly didn't belong to this world of Shinigami.

"You!"

The malice-filled blood red eyes of Lord Voldemort stared back at him.


	10. I'm just really good

**A/N:** Hi again! When you're looking for Bleachvolumes in bookstores in Holland, you have to go to a large city and then find yourself a very very rare store which sells them. Now I've been in Canada for the holidays and I was shocked to see that, when I was looking for The Blair Witch Project, I bumped into thirteen different volumes! I was sooo happy, I bought nine volumes, spread over the three weeks that I've been there. Now all I have to do is get the money to pay my parents back.

Hehe.

Anyway, it was my sixteenth birtday yesterday, so I was really happy to see that I got this chapter back from my betareader today. But I won't bother you anymore, here's to you the tenth chapter!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Bleach.

**Thanks to** my beta-reader Byakuxhisa4eva! Thanks again!

* * *

It was Voldemort as Harry had seen him return on the graveyard. His slitted nostrils were there, his snake-like eyes were there, his inhuman skin was there. His glare of hatred and deceit… wasn't… there?

The person raised one of his eyebrows. "Voldemort? I know I haven't told you my name yet, but to assume such an insulting name like that…"

Anger arose inside of Harry's chest and a headache, fueled by hatred, seized his head. First daring to bring him back to a place where he'd never wanted to come again, then mocking him by acting like he didn't even know why Harry hated the man? And that was only one reason of many to hate him so much...

Without hesitation, Harry, fully aware that he was unarmed, threw himself on top of Voldemort and…

…he found himself standing back on the place in front of the large tombstone. How did he do that?

The Voldemort in front of him had a pulsing vein on his forehead. "Fine, if it means that much to you, I'll tell you my name."

"Don't talk shit to me, Voldemort," Harry spat, clenching his fists from the tension in his body. "I don't know what you're up to, but I'm dead already, okay? You got what you wanted."

"Stop calling me that," the apparently-not-Voldemort demanded. "I hate that name. I don't want you dead. I might as well commit suicide. I'm part of you, all right? At this moment, I'm not as happy with that either, but you can at least tolerate me. When you get out of here, release me."

Harry eased his fists and his headache lessened. "What are you talking about? I know where we are, and I know who you are."

"I'm not this… Voldemort you keep talking about. I'm your zanpakutou, Harry."

Harry's eyes widened and he took another look at his surroundings. There was no way that the real Voldemort would know about zanpakutous. He had to be careful, though. He wouldn't put it past Voldemort to be lying again.

"Then tell me something only I would know." Harry offered.

A sigh was his reply. "You are bothersome. But fine, I'll think of something. Uhm.. Oh, all right! In your time in Inuzuri, you have felt a weird reiatsu a couple of times. You just didn't know it was reiatsu yet. How's that for you?"

Harry blinked in confusion. "It's true that I never told that to anyone…"

"Do you trust me now?"

Harry shook his head. "Impossible…"

"Now," The true form of Harry's zanpakutou said. "I will let you wake up. When you do, attack that Urahara-guy for me, okay? Release me. Use my power and let it combine with yours. Call me out."

"Wait!" Harry yelled, wanting to ask another tons of questions. "I'm not done yet!"

"But I am," his zanpakutou replied. He clapped his hands and Harry felt himself being lifted from the ground. Harry wanted to protest some more, but the area around him dissolved into a blur and Harry spun around. The last thing he heard was a battle cry.

--

Urahara had placed himself next to Harry's body, trying to bring the boy out of his state of unconsciousness. However, he didn't expect to hear or see what happened after Harry had opened his eyes.

Harry's green irises shone fiercely and were surrounded by a circle of white light. His mouth hung open, as if trying to say something, but wasn't sure of what exactly. When he reached out for his practice weapon, Urahara seized it and tossed it behind him.

Harry stretched out his arm and grabbed something in mid-air. When he pulled back his arm, a katana had appeared out of nowhere. Unlike other blades, the hilt was a wooden one and there was a slight curve in the blade.

Harry turned around to faced Urahara.

"Seems like I've gotten my zanpakutou," Harry grinned.

Urahara blinked once. Then twice. Then his jaw dropped. "Seems like you're right…"

Harry chuckled softly in response. "Now, I'm really tired. Can we please call it off for today?"

His teacher nodded slowly. "Yeah, go ahead.. Isshin and I have to attend that meeting, anyway.."

"Good luck!" Harry said as he ran away, waving to Isshin. Isshin waved back. Then the captain turned around to face Urahara. "OI! IT'S WAY PAST TIME, KISUKE! WE'RE LATE!"

Urahara widened his eyes and then glanced at the clock. He yelped and hurried up to his feet. After signaling to Isshin that he would follow soon after, he scratched his neck in bewildering at Harry's astounding development. Then shunpo'ed to keep up with his friend.

Meanwhile, Harry ran through Seireitei. He kept repeating the name of his zanpakutou in his head and he was imagining all kinds of releases he would have. "..them all.. I wonder it look's like."

_'I have a name, you know.'_

"Yeah," Harry said, smiling awkwardly by being caught calling his zanpakutou an 'it'. He dashed around a corner.

_'I would like you to use it.'_

"Not yet," Harry murmured, slowing down his pace the moment he stopped recognizing the area.

_'Why not?'_

Harry stopped walking. "I'm lost. Oh, and I want to train with you, first."

_'Go left. You'll know where you are, then. And when were you planning on training? Where and with who?'_

"Thanks," Harry said, ignoring his zanpakutou's last question and looking around to see if anyone was near. When he didn't see any shinigami, Harry turned to the street on his left, just like his zanpakutou had advised. And indeed, Harry recognized the huge villa towering up next to him. And he also recognized the woman standing in the garden.

"Oi, Hisana!"

Hisana turned around to see who had called her name, and the moment she saw Harry, she started to shriek. "Harry-kun!"

"That doesn't sound good," Harry said upon hearing her voice. Her shrill and hoarse voice. "Are you still ill?"

Hisana grinned. "A bit. Byakuya-sama doesn't want me to leave the residence, but he's at work now and I really enjoy being outside. What are you doing here?"

The boy shrugged. "Nothing, actually. I just came back from the dojo, where I trained with Urahara."

"Trained with Urahara?" Hisana asked, while her hand rubbed her neck. "Why would you do that in the dojo? I thought he was your teacher at the academy?"

"Oh!" Harry said surprised. "Haven't you heard? I'm sorry not to have told you yet, but I'm off the academy and I've become a member of the twelfth division now! For already a day," he added, grinning.

Hisana stared back at him, disbelieving. "But you've been there for such a short time, how did you manage?"

"I'm just really good," Harry grinned. "But nah, I don't know. Urahara wanted me to join, and this was a way to be with you and Rukia more often, isn't it?"

Hisana smiled in respond. "I guess so. Congratulations."

Harry didn't reply to her. Hisana guessed that he hadn't even heard her. After hesitating a few seconds, Hisana called out his name. No respond. She waved her hand in front of his eyes and caused a blink. Then Harry shook his head wildly and gave Hisana a quick hug. "I gotta go."

In a rush, Harry ran away, leaving Hisana standing bewildered in the garden.

Why Harry had ran away, he had yet to find out himself. While talking to Hisana, he had felt a reiatsu, which he recognized immediately. He had felt it several times before, but he never knew whom it belonged to. And now, the normally hazy reiatsu felt stronger than ever.

Speeding up his pace, Harry ran out of Seireitei into Rukongai. His intuition told him that he shouldn't continue walking; that he should return immediately. What would Urahara say if he returned from the meeting, and Harry wouldn't be there?

Turning into the thirty-second district, Harry's heart skipped a beat. He held his breath for the longest of time, before realizing that he was probably the only one around who would even stand a chance against this sudden appearance. Harry tried to remember everything about hollows he had ever learned, desperate for some advice.

As he was remembering lessons he had had at the academy, Harry remembered what it was in front of him.

A Menos Grande.

--

"All the regular boring stuff, wanna bet?" the captain of the second division, Shihouin Yoruichi, whispered in Urahara's ear. Urahara nodded. "Dull. Falling asleep. Want my bed. You're on."

He and Yoruichi grinned at each other as they entered the large gathering room of the first division. While the second division's captain took her place at the beginning of the line next to Unohana of the fourth, Urahara walked over to his spot on the end of the line, next to Isshin, captain of the tenth.

"Other than the usual subjects we discuss," the captain commander started, causing Yoruichi and Urahara to grin, "I want to talk about the deal captain Urahara has made with an Academy-student. Urahara Kisuke, where did you get the idea of removing the student and transferring him into your division?"

Urahara raised an eyebrow. "You are really fast into realizing. How do you know?"

The captain commander frowned. "It matters not who my sources are. What were you thinking when you removed him from the Academy?"

Urahara sighed. "The guy is real talented. However, the training he would have received at the Acadmy wouldn't have suited him. I can assure you, captain, that with my training, he'll be an excellent -"

"I don't care," Yamamoto bellowed, tapping his cane on the floor. "Why would a captain waste his time on a mere academy-student?"

"Pathetic," the captain of the seventh division said. Urahara didn't quite remember the name. He used to refer to him as 'dude of seventh.' A couple of captains nodded on the saying.

Before Urahara could come up with a good answer, Kurosaki Isshin stepped forward and said, "I've seen him. He's just as good as Urahara says."

"Rubbish," dude of seventh said. But he was interrupted by the raised hand of Yamamoto. "If two captains agree on this boy's powers, I will not underestimate him. I will allow him to be your project. However, when if your duties to train this boy interfere with your duties as a captain of the Gotei 13, I will see to it myself that the boy will leave Seireitei once and for all."

"Once and for all?" Isshin grinned, looking around at the other captains. "You must mean that you'll send him back to the Acade"

"Once and for all," repeated the captain commander in a threatening tone.

The two captains gulped. But then Urahara smiled. "Of course, sir."

"Now that that is settled, I would like to continue with the weekly round of suggestions. Does anyone has something…"

"SIR!" The door was knocked open and Sasakibe Choujirou came running into the room. Upon realizing the thirteen sets of eyes boring into his, the poor Vice-captain bowed down and tried to excuse himself. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but there is an emergency in the thirty-second district of Rukongai."

"And of what importance is this?" Yamamoto asked, obviously annoyed by the interruption.

Sasakibe took a deep breath to compose his posture, and then said, "A Menos Grande was spotted."

Gasps went around the room. "Impossible," Captain Unohana said.

"Captain Kurosaki, go inspect the area. Everybody else is dismissed." Yamamoto ordered. "Captain Urahara, stay behind for a second."

Isshin gave the captain commander a quick bow before he disappeared in a flash of shunpo to Rukongai. While the other captains made their attempts to leave, Urahara shifted uncomfortably on his feet.

"Do you, Urahara Kisuke, realize what kind of problem you are bringing into Seireitei?" asked the captain commander as the last captain had left the room.

Urahara raised his eyebrows and shook his head. "If you are talking about Harry-san, I don't see a problem here."

"Idiot," Yamamoto murmured. "That Menos Grande… have you felt it's reiatsu yet?"

Once again Urahara shook his head. "If it's just an ordinary Menos, I'd-"

"It's not."

Confused, Urahara decided that he would just take the hint and locate the Menos. However, the moment he recognized more than just one reiatsu, he spun around and made it to the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" bellowed Yamamoto. But Urahara didn't reply with much more than a wave from the hand. He had sensed a shinigami near the Menos, and, to his greatest displeasure, it wasn't Kurosaki Isshin.

"Harry-san, what are you getting yourself into?" Urahara hushed as he made his way to the gates which led him into Rukongai.

--

Harry stood frozen on his spot. He had his zanpakutou drawn in his right hand, but his brain had sudden frozen – he couldn't remember anything, from the Academy, from training, nothing.

_'What are you waiting for, an invitation? Go for it!'_

"What? Oh, yeah, right…"

His voice was stronger than his motivation. Harry still couldn't move.

A piercing scream shook him out of his trance and he looked for the source of the sound. A little boy was laying flat on the ground and he was crying his eyes out for fear of the Menos. Noticing this, Harry gained his control of his limbs back and he sprinted towards the boy. As he did, the Menos seemed to have noticed Harry and he roared a howl Harry had never heard before.

_'Release me, Harry.'_

"No way!" Harry screamed, putting back his zanpakutou in his sash and tugging the little boy up at the arm from the street. "I haven't trained with you yet."

_'Don't be an idiot! You need to fight! Even though you cannot defeat it, you can keep it busy until help gets to you.'_

"I'm stupid?" shouted Harry, now lifting the boy in his arms and bringing him to the ground a couple of feet away, around a corner and out of vision from the Menos. "How am I supposed to know how to handle you? It could bring more danger than safety!"

_'Just _trust _me, Harry!'_

Harry grunted as he ran back. Drawing his zanpakutou again, he wondered what he was supposed to do exactly. Relying once more on the voice in his head, he pointed his sword towards the Menos and said,

"Blind them all, Keishu."

--

"Oh Haaaaaarry-san… Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarry-san…"

His body was heavy. His head ached. He could barely move his fingers. That voice was annoying. Even though it sounded from very far away.

"Now would be a good time to wake up, oh, Haaaarry-san…"

Harry grunted and turned his body the other way. "Let me sleep…"

"Good," Harry heard the man, now a lot closer, say. "You're awake. Get up, then, or at least sit up."

Suddenly, Harry recognized the voice. He opened his eyes and blinked a couple of times, without focusing his blurry vision. His arm reached out for his glasses, blinding groping for them, when they were pushed into his hands.

"What happened?" he asked, putting on his glasses and seeing Urahara sit next to his bed.

"You fainted," Urahara said, placing his hands behind his head, looking like he had just explained everything. "You seem to do that a lot lately."

"You cut me the first time!" Harry said defensively. "The second time.. well.. and.. oh! And that Menos? How did that end?"

"Isshin and I made it to you in time," Urahara replied. "It seemed that you released your zanpakutou and fainted."

Harry's heart skipped a beat from curiosity. "Did you see anything? What does my release look like? Did I get the Menos?"

Urahara grinned and leaned forward. "I didn't see it. You didn't get to the Menos at all. It seemed like you released it and fainted immediately."

"He is SO going to get it…," Harry said, falling back onto the bed. In a high and mocking voice he continued. "'Oh, Harry, just trust me! It'll be okay! It's all safe!'"

_'I can hear you.'_

"Well you better."

Urahara stood up, causing Harry to look up and ignore any further words from his zanpakutou. As his teacher turned around, he said, "Rest a little longer, Harry-san. We'll be seeing you tomorrow."

Harry nodded slowly. "Thanks."

Before he heard Urahara leave the room, his vision went black and he fell back into a deep and peaceful sleep.


	11. To gain and keep order

**A/N:** Let me start this chapter with an announcement: There will be a HUGE difference in the timeline in a couple of chapters. I simply chose to do that so everything would fit better in the storyline and plot. Leaving messages with 'your storyline doesn't fit' are unnecessary because I know it doesn't. But it does for me. Also, I am forced to make some detail-changes. Not everything will fit with the original Bleach-storyline anymore, but hey, it never really has. Please deal with it!

**Disclaimer:** Bleach and Harry Potter aren't mine.

**Warnings:** Possible spoilers for the Bleach manga coming up.

* * *

Throughout the next couple of months, Harry found himself training in the dojo almost daily, and whether he was accompanied by Urahara depended completely on the captain's schedule. Harry and his zanpakutou, Keishu, a name which, Harry had discovered, meant 'bearer', had developed an unusual relationship - while bickering kept them busy for most of their time, they trusted each others decisions and when time came, compromises and promises were made and kept.

In those months of hard work, Urahara had confided the words of the captain commander in Harry.

"Make sure you train hard enough, Harry-san," Urahara had said after one of their first training sessions in Seireitei. "If he finds you trash he will make you leave immediately."

Since then, Harry had been expecting some sort of test to examine his progress and strength. There had been nothing for the past two years. However, one day Harry discovered that Kurosaki Isshin had been scribbling down notes on a note-pad while watching over Harry's and Urahara's fight. After training Harry had asked Urahara what it had meant but his teacher just waved it away. "Nothing for you to worry about."

Due to his hectic schedule of training and exercises, Harry did not have much spare time in which he was able to see Hisana, Rukia, Gin or Rangiku often. Blaming himself for it did not work, either. Hisana said that she could 'totally understand, you're a shinigami now!', Rukia's happy smiling face when Harry did come to visit caused him to feel the way that she looked, and Rangiku never wasted a moment she saw him again and hugged him until he could no longer breathe. Again and again. Gin, however, Harry found more complicated. While he said he was supporting Harry, Harry began to see less and less of Gin every time he managed a visit.

"No offense, Harry-san, but I have stuff to do myself, too," said Gin as he stood up. Harry had just sat down on the grass next to Rangiku. "Homework 'n stuff."

He walked away and the moment he was out of earshot, Rangiku started to fume about him. "Never tells me where he's going. He's not in his room doing homework, I tell you! He's just plain jealous, Harry-san, don't bother."

But Harry did bother. Fruitless attempts of Harry contacting Gin where ignored and there was been no normal conversation between the two anymore. This did not make his own bond with Rangiku any less comfortable, to Harry's satisfaction. They still hung around, but definitely noticed the absence of a third soul.

"Promise me something, Harry-san," Rangiku sighed once with her chin lazily resting on her hands. "When Gin gets to you and begs you to be his friend again, ignore him."

Harry never answered.

He entered his third year in Seireitei with an unpleasant surprise. Urahara said that he was going to dedicate his time to continue a couple of experiments. When Harry asked what those were, Urahara turned around and walked away without explaining anything.

Not letting himself be put down by this, Harry moved on with his training sessions with Keishu. More determined to perfect his shikai in the days drawing closer to June, Harry realized that he had been dead for almost five years. Hermione and Ron would be twenty years old by now, if they were still alive.

Sighing, Harry put his zanpakutou against the wall and sat down next to it. He took his bottle of water, but let it rest in his hands. He did not unscrewed the lid, even though he was quite thirsty. Thoughts plagued his mind.

How were his friends now? Never finding out what happened to your friends in battle was frustrating.

Having no reasons to linger over the much-dreaded subject any longer, Harry stood up and rubbed his temples. Last night, he had gone to visit Rukia. The girl had grown amazingly fast and now reached Harry's chest. By weird coincidence they had found out that Rukia had been much more mature than any other seven year old, which led to the point that Byakuya and Hisana had agreed to put her in the academy in only two more years. While Harry had said that he found it too early for a nine year old to be at the academy, Hisana said that she had no doubts about Rukia's potential and would not be in the least disappointed if Rukia were to repeat a failed year.

Harry never found reasons to argue against Hisana, especially because any argument could cause her more and more stress, for Hisana had never quite fully gotten over her illness. Sometimes, when Harry was walking around in Seireitei, he could see Byakuya gazing into space with a worried expression on his face. Harry always sighed and walked on, deciding not to bother him about Hisana.

Summer turned to autumn, and autumn to winter. Even with the snow blanketed across the vast training grounds, Harry could still be seen training with Keishu. They had been arguing for quite a while now, about Harry's first shikai experience. Keishu firmly believed that Harry had been ready, and should not have fainted that first time, while Harry, irate and annoyed, reminded him that he had been pounded into the ground by Urahara that time. So they compromised.

Keishu promised Harry that he would not pressure Harry to release his shikai again until he was sure Harry was ready.

That moment Harry cursed the day the deal was made, since they always had to stick to promises.

In the spring of Harry's fourth year, he managed to release his shikai again, and Keishu had been right: Harry was ready. Even with an immense power surging through Harry's body, he was now prepared and able to control this force. Harry closed his eyes firmly to gain and keep order, and when he reigned it, he saw his zanpakutou's shikai for the first time.

The wooden handle had become dark and seemed burned charcoal black, although the wood still felt smooth. His blade was now looking regular, while the small bow in the steel was still there. Harry found nothing special about it, until Keishu said that he should point it to the sun. Doing so, Harry felt the blade grow hotter and hotter until he didn't dare to touch it with his fingers anymore. Yet Keishu kept encouraging him to do feel it. With hesitation, Harry did it. And he was very surprised that even though there was a burning aura coming from it, it felt cold to his fingers.

_'Only you can touch the blade without getting burned,'_ Keishu explained patiently. _'It feeds itself on your energy and the sun just strengthens it. Others will get off with bad burns which could even be fatal. Oh, right, make sure not to fight in cloudy days.'_

"Is that all?" Harry asked carefully, ignoring the last comment. He had hoped that there would have been more.

_'You will see,'_ answered Keishu. _'First discover how you can make your zanpakutou burn without the sun.'_

And Harry did. After only two months he had made such astounding progress that Urahara had bragged about him at a meeting and even 'dude of seventh' came to watch Harry train one day.

Harry noticed this just in time and he held back immediately. He didn't even release his shikai. And after Urahara had been laughed at by dude of seventh, Urahara scolded at Harry for not showing off. Harry simply replied with "Showing off was an old habit of mine which was said to be annoying. I have nothing to show that man, anyway."

But his fourth year did not fail to surprise him even more.

'The kid' Harry had seen in the first district, on the day Hisana's illness washed over her when she and Harry were supposed to take Rukia to the orphanage, had entered his division together with Urahara. Harry recognized the mop of pure white hair immediately.

"I asked if I could keep him!" Urahara stated happily when he saw Harry's surprised face. "He's a present for you."

He pushed the boy towards Harry, and the white-head turned around with fire burning in his eyes. "I do not want to be treated like this."

"Yippee," Harry said dully. "How did you know I've always wanted a boy for Christmas?"

"Lucky guess," Urahara winked. "This is Hitsugaya Toushiro. He just graduated from the academy and I want you to train with him."

Harry sighed and stood up. "Fine. Where, what and how long?"

Urahara thought about this for a second. Or three. Then he snapped his fingers and said, "Oh, I know! How about for at least a year and anywhere you like?"

Almost dropping the katana he was hanging limp around hip level, Harry gaped at Urahara. "A year? What did I do wrong?"

Hitsugaya copied Harry. "I graduated with the name 'boy genius'. I do not want to be paired up with someone who is not even a ranked officer, for I have the strength of a ninth-seat already. You just told me."

Urahara's face turned into a wide grin. "Okay, that's settled then! Harry-san, I'm looking for a new vice-captain. Interested?"

"Tch," Hitsugaya spat, not believing a single word Urahara had just said. Harry, however, had experienced Urahara's weird promises and proposals, and he was staring to the captain with his mouth wide open.

"I am not seated and you want me to become vice-captain?"

Urahara rolled with his eyes. "Well duh. The only thing you have to do for it is spar with me and impress me, but since you've already done that so many times, I think we're settled."

"You'll need a referee, Kisuke," a voice Harry had heard only a couple of times before said. When he turned around he recognized Shihouin Yoruichi, captain of the second division and leader of the Secret Mobile Corps.

Urahara beamed at her and nodded. "And I am to assume that you want to play that part?"

Yoruichi grinned back at him. "Of course. Anyway, since this guy never let anyone know what his fighting techniques are, I'd like to check him out. Eventually we can laugh back at the people who laughed at you and your project."

"That would be fun."

From one thing came the next and that was how Harry found himself standing, once again, in the dojo, while Urahara stood opposite him. They both bowed and positioned themselves in their most favorable pose.

While Harry tried not to release his shikai immediately, he felt the momentum as Urahara landed his first hit that his opponent was not holding back a bit. And after a minute of dodging hits and being scolded by Yoruichi, Harry forgot about his plan and shouted, "Blind them all, Keishu!"

A roof covered the dojo and if they had been having this fight only a couple of months before, Harry would not have known what to do. By experience (and some lectures he had gotten from his zanpakutou's true form) Harry had learned that by concentrating his reiatsu in the blade, it would grow hot as well. Striking back, sparks flew around when the steel of the two blades met.

At one point in battle Urahara realized that Benihime did not look good and retreated.

"You've melted my zanpakutou!" he roared at Harry. Harry just shrugged. But when Urahara threw himself on Harry again, Harry was prepared, lifted his zanpakutou above his head and yelled, "Shine your light, migaku!"

During practice sessions, Harry had been able to master the three attacks Keishu could use in shikai. He had been training like crazy to stay in control, and he had finally learned how to do so. However, having never used his shikai in a battle before, Harry could just hope and pray if he was able to pull it off.

He was.

Keishu's blade started to light up to the point of shining with such a fierce light that Urahara had to turn around not to blind himself. Harry was prepared for this and shunpoed to the other side of his opponent. As expected, Urahara used the arm in which he held his sword to create a shadow on his face.

"You're open!" Harry yelled, throwing himself forward in an attempt to cut Urahara.

It would have worked if it wasn't for Yoruichi. She blocked Harry with her own katana and said, "Well done. I think you are a worthy opponent."

Harry pulled back his sword back grinned, panting. "Thank you."

And this is how from one day to the next, Harry Potter had become vice-captain of the Twelfth Division. The moment it was announced in the division, Hitsugaya Toushiro's jaw dropped and Urahara patted him on the shoulder. "Does he seem worthy enough to you now?"

Not only did Harry now seem worthy enough to Hitsugaya, he also seemed to have touched a string at Yoruichi's side. She was constantly hanging around him, asking questions and demanding a lot of his time. At first, Harry found it rather annoying, but the more time they spent together, the more he started to enjoy her presence. Sometimes, he, Yoruichi and Urahara agreed to see each other after a day of hard work (Harry was especially having trouble with the paperwork he had to do. Who the hell was Captain Kuchiki, what was wrong with the eleventh division, how did it happen that his -now- subordinates were stupid enough to ignore another rule and did start to bow when he walked by?) and the three of them could stay up all night, discussing meaningless topics.

Entering his fifth year in Seireitei, Harry had become a prominent figure in the eyes of some Captains and his fellow Vice-captains alike. He seemed like an idiot to most of them, for there were only three people who knew what power Harry had. During training sessions with his division, Harry never released his shikai and let most of his subordinates win the battle. Only he and Urahara knew that he did so to see how open and easy the shinigami was to prey.

Also, when Harry was filling in paperwork over newly appointed shinigami, his eyes found the names 'Matsumoto Rangiku' and 'Ichimaru Gin'. He hadn't finished reading the names before he had ran out of the building to go look for his two friends.

"Hey Harry-san! Over here!"

Harry turned around as he heard the familiar voice of Rangiku, screaming his name. He couldn't turn around or he was being choked in a tight embrace. Again.

"Hey Rangiku!"

His friend released him and then looked him up and down. "You look good, Harry-san! What did you do? Got promoted? Did you grow?"

Harry grinned. "Actually, yeah, I did."

With her famous look of disbelieving, Rangiku had her hands in her hips and her eyebrows high up. "Are you kidding me? How much taller are you now, then?"

"I don't know. But I did get a promotion."

It was only then that Rangiku noticed the band wrapped around Harry's upper arm, symbolizing his rank. She closed her eyes, shook her head until dizziness washed over her and opened her eyes again.

"I think I have to obey you, then."

Harry frowned. "Forget it. I just-"

"Okay! Hey, congratulations!"

Harry now realized that he shouldn't have asked her to forget it. This could turn out to be bad. But he beamed at her. "Thanks! In what division did you end up?"

Rangiku pondered about this for a second before replying, "The fifth, together with Gin. But.. I'm not exactly sure where the building is.."

Harry turned around, grabbed her arm and said, "Can you keep up?"

Rangiku nodded and Harry escorted her to her division. Stopping his shunpo step in front of the doors, Harry asked Rangiku, "How's Gin been doing?"

For a second, Harry thought he could see her eyes burn, but after a blink of the eye of both Harry and Rangiku, she smiled. "He's okay. Forget about him. Can I see you soon, again?"

Harry nodded. "Of course we will. I have to get back, now. Bye!"

"Bye Harry-san!" Rangiku replied, waving as Harry turned around to shunpo back. "Nice having seen you again!"

"Yup! Bye!"

And indeed, he and Rangiku started to see more and more of each other as the days went by. And after several weeks of realization, Harry was immensely content with his life. He had friends, he had a duty (which involved protection, and, as Hermione had said to him the day he died, he was born to protect people. And even though Harry tried to ignore it, a stream of pride feelings rushed through him as he remembered her saying that), he had a future and everything had come at it's right place.

Of course, he still had no idea what had happened to his friends in the material world.

But they could manage themselves. They had been strong.

Everything was all right.

Until the day that Urahara entered Harry's office and asked him to come with him. "I need to show you something."

Harry put down his pen, shoved a sheet of paper out of sight and stood up. There was NO way that Urahara was going to bust him on doodling on the official papers he had to sign. To avert the attention to his work, Harry asked, "Where to?"

"Just follow me."

Harry followed Urahara into a corner Harry hadn't noticed before. He looked around and saw several posters on the walls with complicated formulas. Just when he was about to ask where they were heading, Urahara opened a door and pushed Harry inside of the room.

There were no windows and the only lights that shone were several dimly glowing lamps, suspended in three of the four corners the room possessed. In the middle of the room stood a table and something that laid upon it was covered with a blanket.

"Urahara, what's…"

"This, Harry-san," Urahara said, fumbling on the sheets and pulling it off, revealing a body, "is a gigai."

Harry shook his head. He had seen gigais, but luckily enough had he never had to use one. "Do you want me to test it out or something? There's nothing much special about a gigai…"

"Oh," Urahara said, with no trace of his regular happy voice. "But this one is. You see, there are missions you can only complete with very secure privacy."

"I know," Harry said. "In the material world, for example, when-"

"I know when to use a gigai, Harry-san, thank you very much."

Harry closed his mouth and stared at the gigai. "Then what's this?"

As if this was the question Urahara had been waiting for, he started to smile again as he started to explain. "This, Harry-san, is our little secret. Of course is Yoruichi involved as well, but nobody else is allowed to know. Am I understood?"

Harry nodded, starting to get eager to hear more.

"Sometimes you need privacy from even the Soul Society, but they can never guarantee you that because gigais are easily traced. This, Harry-san, is an untraceable gigai. And the thing you see laying beside it…" Urahara pointed at a small orb which Harry had not noticed before, "…that is something I invented myself. It's called the Hougyouku."


	12. Without another word

**A/N:** Today, I went to the hospital to get some blood tested. I HATE needles. They get me sick and ill and dizzy and they make me feel like I'm going to faint. Next Friday or Monday, I can call for the results. So wish me luck!

Uhm, due to the dizzyness and stuff, I don't think I have much more to say.

Oh, except for: **Bleach spoilers ahead!** If you're not up with the manga… I'm very very sorry for you.

* * *

Harry stared to the small orb Urahara was pointing to. It wasn't much larger than a marble in size, and didn't seem very appealing to Harry. Harry stared up at Urahara with raised eyebrows. "It'd better be more interesting than it looks."

Urahara snorted. "If only you knew, Harry-san. Now, have you ever heard of anything called -"

"Captain Urahara!"

Urahara stiffened and spun around quickly. An unseated officer stood hesitantly at the doorway, clearly nervous at interrupting what looked like a very important conversation.

"What is it?" Urahara asked, just as nervous for being caught amidst such dangerous discussion. Harry seemed to notice the nervous glance and hastened to cover up the gigai, then standing in front of the Hougyouku, covering it from view.

"Several captains and their vice-captains have gone missing. The captain commander wishes to have an emergency meeting at once."

"Damn," Urahara hissed. "You may leave."

The shinigami bow and ran away. Then Urahara turned to Harry. "I'll explain later. Look around, feel free. But do _NOT_ forget to lock this room again when you leave. I've got to go."

Harry nodded and watched Urahara shunpo away. Now that he was alone in the room, it seemed a lot more threatening. An untraceable gigai and some weirdly named orb.. was Urahara up to something?

Harry stepped around the room, eying a couple of discarded fliers and posters, pencils everywhere and an assortment of trash strewn all over the general area. He curiously opened a couple of drawers and found that one of them had been locked shut. Curiosity building, Harry pulled harder and frowned when that didn't work either.

"Come on," Harry murmured as he unsheathed Keishu. With his zanpakutou as a lever, he managed to break the lock and open the drawer.

He ignored Keishu's protests (_'I am not some common household object used to open locked drawers! Treat me with respect!_'), Harry rummaged through the papers he had found in there. There were blueprints of buildings, drawings of gigais, plans and complicated facts and then Harry found it: a rectangular sheet of yellow paper, with simple script on the front.

_'HOUGYOUKU – TOP SECRET INFORMATION'_

_I'll kill you if you read this. _

_Much love, Urahara Kisuke.' _

Harry ignored the loving message and unfolded the paper. His eyes scanned through rows of complicated equations and he grinned when he hit what seemed to be an explanation.

"Lieutenant Potter?"

Harry jumped up in surprise, fumbling with the sheet of paper in his hands. He spun around, heart in this throat, and saw Hitsugaya Toushiro standing in the doorway.

"Oh.. it's just you.." Harry said, relieved at the fact that it hadn't been Urahara ready to scold him for poking his nose where he shouldn't be.

"It's good to see you too," Hitsugaya said, voice dripping with sarcasm. "What are you hiding?" he asked suspiciously.

Harry closed his eyes, trying to regain control over his breathing again. "You are not in a position to ask questions."

Hitsugaya raised his eyebrows. "I see. Anyway, Captain Urahara asked me to tell you that he's going off to-"

"We're off, Harry!" a distant voice echoed.

Harry saw a shadow approaching the room and he recognized Yoruichi's profile. She came closer and Harry managed to hide the rumpled piece of paper in the pocket of his robes. "Where to?"

The captain of the second division popped her head from behind the walls. "Material world. Might not be back for days or weeks. Kisuke's going too. You're in charge of the division until he's back."

Harry stood in shock. "What do you mean?" Harry said. "You're going to the material world? What are you going to do? Let Urahara talk to me himself!"

Yoruichi winked at him. "You're not in a position to give orders."

Hitsugaya grinned.

---

The autumn-wind pressed hard on Harry as he stepped out of his division's office. Shielding his face with his hands, Harry walked to the office of the tenth. He figured that Isshin would know what Urahara was up to in the material world, information Harry thought he deserved to know.

When he finally arrived, he was stopped at the entrance of the building. "You're not allowed to enter," the guard said.

"I figured such," Harry said. "Pointing a sword at someone clearly says 'Welcome to the Tenth, have a nice visit!'"

The guard stared at him. "What do you want?"

"I want to talk to Captain Kurosaki."

A hint of uncertainty entered the man's eyes. "I won't allow you."

Harry snorted. "Why not? I'm allowed to at will."

The guard lowered his sword. "Are you going to fight me for it?" A hint of amusement tinted his voice.

"Maybe," Harry said, playing along with the game.

"You won't stand a chance," the shinigami said. "I'm third seat of the division and that's why I've been placed to guard the entrance."

Harry sighed. "And I'm vice-captain of the twelfth."

The guards' gaze now intensified. "Vice-captain of the twelfth.. you.. want to enter.."

Harry nodded.

"You want to enter."

"Yes."

There was a moment of complete silence, then the guard burst into fits of laughter. "_You_'re the vice-captain of the twelfth? I've heard that you look silly, but I never thought you _actually_ did! Hahahahaha, where did you get that scar, dope? I hear you can't even beat your own subordinates. You think you can actually defeat me? Don't make me laugh!"

Harry frowned, raising an eyebrow, staring the man's shaking frame. "Kinda late for that..."

"Oh, come on," the third-seat hiccupped, "it's so funny! I bet you can't even protect your own mother if you wanted to! Hahahah-"

The moment the guard felt steel grazing the tender skin of his throat, he knew he had crossed the line. The look on Harry's face was terrifying and his laugh faded into fear.

"Never," Harry said in a dangerously low voice, "say that again."

The guard gulped and nodded quickly. Harry sheathed Keishu and without another word, he walked past the guard and entered the building.

The moment Harry was alone in a corridor, he heaved a sigh and leaned against a wall. Why had he even listened to that man? It was no use, anyway. The man had had no clue as to what has happened to Harry in his previous life. And he didn't need to know, either.

Pulling himself up again, Harry hurried down the path he remembered to be Kurosaki's office. As he knocked and entered, a surprising sight greeted him.

Kurosaki Isshin was packing his bags.

"Sir, where are you going?"

Isshin turned around, just spotting Harry for the first time. He grabbed a couple of papers and put them neatly into a drawer. "I'm no longer captain Kurosaki."

Harry's jaw fell. "What? Have you been sacked? You can't have!"

Isshin opened a desk-drawer and pulled out a couple of pictures. He turned around and had a vague look. "Hey, Potter?"

Harry hesitated. "Yes?"

A picture was quickly shoved under his nose. "Don't you think that I have such adorable cute daughters?"

"What?" Harry said in disbelief. He looked down at the picture. There were five people standing in a garden, in front of a simple white house. Isshin was holding one girl in one arm and another girl in his other arm. Both girls looked about five years old. The woman held a boy who had the brightest orange hair Harry had ever seen. Harry guessed the boy was roughly eight or nine.

"My girls are beautiful!" Isshin, crowed, practically drooling. "And so is my wife!"

Harry nodded. "I'm sure they are. Where do they live? Is your wife a shinigami, too?"

Isshin shook his head. "God no. They don't even know I'm a shinigami. Actually, right now, they're under the impression that I work at some boring office job in the material world. That's where they live."

"I see," Harry said. "Complicated, isn't it? For you?"

Isshin nodded. "But now, with my promotion to the Royal Family, I -"

"A promotion to the Royal Family?" Harry interrupted. "I thought the only rank higher than a captain was to be a member of Room 46?"

Isshin froze. "I did _not_ just say that. I shouldn't have said that. You mind your own business."

Harry sweat dropped as his imagination seemed to automatically switch Isshin's head with Hagrid's, seemingly remembering the larger man's antics. He quickly erased the image from his eyes and asked, "What exactly are you going to do there?"

Isshin grunted. "Forget it. Wasn't there something you came here for?"

Harry widened his eyes. "Oh, right! Do you know where Urahara and Yoruichi went?"

"Yeah," Isshin replied, now carefully packing the pictures. "To the material world. I thought they sent you a message about it."

"They did," Harry said, "but it was too vague and Yoruichi left before I could ask any questions."

Isshin closed a last suitcase and looked around the room for anything he might have forgotten. "I think that's all. Hey Potter, by the way, Urahara asked me to tell you to go to the fifth. Someone's been promoted to vice-captain and he was sure you'd want to know."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "When was I supposed to be there?"

"Four PM."

"It's a quarter past five."

"..oops."

---

Minutes after Harry and Isshin said goodbye, Harry arrived at the fifth division. He was pretty sure that the new vice-captain was still there; Harry remembered being held down by various tasks the moment he had been promoted: paperwork to fill out, people to meet.

As he tried to find a way in the building, he was spotted by the captain. "Hey," a voice appeared behind Harry, startling him. "Aren't you the lieutenant of the twelfth division?"

Harry turned around and saw Aizen Sousuke, whom he had probably missed in his search for the vice-captain. Harry nodded. "Captain Aizen, right? I'm sorry to barge in on you like this, but I'm looking for you new vice-captain. Could you...?"

Aizen smiled warmly and widened his arms. "My division is your division, dear boy. My new vice-captain? Ah, you must mean Ichimaru Gin."

Slowly, Harry's eyes widened. "Gin? Gin became vice-captain?"

A nod from Aizen. "He's right over there. I think he'd like to see you."

Harry bowed quickly towards the captain and then ran off to the door Aizen had pointed at. Knocking on the door, Harry heard the familiar voice tell him to enter and he did.

"Hey Gin!"

Gin looked up from his paperwork and raised his eyebrows. "Harry-san, it's been a while."

Not even asking permission, Harry crossed the room and seated himself on the corner of Gin's desk. "It has been, indeed. How are you now?"

"Promoted," Gin said casually, bending back over his paperwork.

A grin found it's way on Harry's lips. "Come _on_, don't be so shy. You're proud, I can see it written all over your face."

Gin sighed deeply. Now Harry started to get worried. "If I'm bothering you," he said, "just send me away."

But Gin shook his head. "You're not the one who's bothering me."

"Rangiku?" Harry asked. "I don't think she's annoying you.. or well, I wouldn't think so. But it _does_ sound like something she would do. Does she envy you for being promoted?"

The sounds of a pen being put down stopped Harry from talking. "Gin, are you okay?"

"It's not Rangiku-chan," Gin replied with his hands in his hair. "It's… well, nobody. Forget it. Please leave so I can finish this stuff."

"Gin?" Harry said, leaning forward and putting his hand on the paper Gin was working on. "Tell me. Please."

He was sure he had never seen Gin like this before. His fingers were trying to dig in his skull and his face was paler than ever. But Harry won; Gin sat back and hesitated. "It's just.. I think I've gotten to know my captain a little too much."

Harry sighed and laughed softly. "Is that all? I thought it was a big, huge problem."

"It is to me," Gin replied.

Hopping off the desk, Harry went to stand next to his friend. "You've been in this division for a while now. Don't you think you should know about captain Aizen already a bit?"

"I guess," Gin said, playing with his fingers and avoiding eye-contact. "But I thought I already knew him. Ah, you know, you're probably right. Thanks, Harry-san."

Gin put up a smile which didn't totally convince Harry, but he was happy enough. "You're welcome. And don't doodle on your paperwork, captains are very fond of it."

---

The water he drank was like a raindrop in a week of drought and way too much sun. After having finished a first bottle, the second was opened and hungrily drowned as well. Hitsugaya just stood there watching him.

"Something's bothering you."

Harry took the bottle away from his lips and wiped his face with his sleeve. "Who knows. It's nothing for you to worry about."

Hitsugaya folded his arms and looked away. "I'm not worrying."

The dojo was warm. It didn't help that Harry and Hitsugaya just had an incredibly tough training and that the winter day was way warmer than it should be. They had both used their shikais and Harry was just very surprised that no one got injuries other than a couple of scratches.

Harry sighed. "A couple of things on my mind, that's all."

Hitsugaya raised his eyebrows. "Captain Urahara gave you an entire division to run and you blame him for putting you up with all the extra paperwork and responsibilities?"

A moan was all Harry could let escape. "I didn't even think about that yet…"

Unsure of what to do, Hitsugaya decided to continue. "Then what's up?"

"Are you really interested?"

Hitsugaya huffed. "No. But you don't seem like you want to start talking and you don't have to bottle things up. So talk."

Somehow it sounded tempting to Harry. He really did need to talk to someone and.. what harm could it do to tell Hitsugaya? So he started to talk. "One of my closest friends is ill, and I'm not really all that fond of the guy she's with, even if he does take very good care of her. I'm still worrying about the people I left behind when I died and I have no way to find them and talk to them. I keep having fights with my zanpakutou, because he doesn't think I train hard enough to achieve Bankai, Urahara's left without saying anything at all to me and another friend is acting weird since I got promoted to vice-captain and now that he's vice-captain himself he's gotten even more weird."

While Hitsugaya listened, Harry played around with the bottle which was now only half full. The boy-genius let all the information sink in and then sighed.

"That's tough. And here I thought that you never cared about anyone else. You're a lot less arrogant than I thought."

"…thank you."

Hitsugaya grinned. "But anyway, if I were you, I'd talk to all your friends. This ill friend of yours… does she know you don't like her husband?"

With his mouth wide open, Harry reeled back in shock, then shook his head. "How do you know they're married? And I'm not sure… I never kept it much of a secret, but I never told her..."

A chuckle came from Hitsugaya's lips. "It's obvious. You wouldn't be so worried if there was a way you could just break them up without consequences."

Harry smiled. "Turns out you are a genius after all, huh?"

"…thank you."

But Harry waved the sarcasm away with his hands. He stood up. "Thanks, Toushiro. I think I'll go and see Hisana, then."

Harry smiled. Hitsugaya nodded and smiled back.

It was one of the weirdest things Harry had ever seen.

---

There had been many changes to Hisana's lifestyle now. She was no longer allowed to leave the house, except to sit on the porch, and was constantly in the company of a servant to tend to her every need, and a warm cup of tea.

Simply put, Harry felt uncomfortable.

"So," he tried to start a conversation. "Your husband isn't home?"

Sipping her tea slowly, Hisana shook her head. "No, but he said he'll come home as soon as his work would allow him to. If he were able to, he'd sit by my side the entire day, holding me to keep me warm and stuff."

Harry grinned. "I don't need the mushy details."

A grin back as a reply. "You haven't heard anything yet."

Getting his own cup of tea, Harry blew in it and watched the ripples that appeared on the smooth surface. He then lifted his gaze up to Hisana again. "How's Rukia doing? I haven't seen her for a while."

The servant, which sat behind Hisana and made sure that she was all right, coughed and asked in a whisper, "Milady, is he.."

"Oh, yes, he's allowed to ask me about Rukia," Hisana said. Even though she smiled, Harry could see a certain flinch of disbelieve in her eyes. "She's doing great. I hear she's having a great time at the academy."

A raindrop fell down on her nose. Hisana giggled, but the servant only seemed worried. "Milady, please let me -"

"Will you please close all the windows of the mansion?" Hisana asked him with a sweet smile before the servant could finish his sentence. "I mean… if I were to fall asleep in a drafty room, I might get a cold… I don't think Byakuya-sama would like that…"

The servant grew pale. "Milady, I couldn't leave you alone! Direct orders from Milord, not to mention I can't possible trust this man!"

Hisana frowned as she responded. "This man here is one of my dearest friends and Byakuya-sama knows that. I'm sure he wouldn't make a fuss about Harry-san. Please go and close the windows."

Admitting to his lost case, the servant sighed, bowed, stood up and entered the house.

"Your smile does it, right?" Harry teased her. Hisana grinned.

"Anyway," Harry continued, "you said Rukia was having a good time? She started…"

"…three weeks ago," Hisana finished his sentence. "She's loving it."

"Good," Harry said approvingly.

They were silent for a while, both listening to the sounds of the raindrops on the porch's shed. Both had now finished their tea, but Harry had no intention to leave yet. They smiled at each other and Hisana nodded as an invitation to stay longer. Harry accepted it without hesitation.

"Hey, do you happen to know if -" Harry tried to start again, but the sentence was interrupted when Hisana's went into another coughing fit. When she didn't stop after three coughs, Harry frowned and went to sit next to her. He patted her on her back. "Hey, are you all right?"

Hisana shook her head. Her hasty breaths had started to turn to hiccups and soon, she had trouble inhaling. Harry started to panic. He looked around for an idea or any help, but couldn't find anything. His mind made the quick decision; his body stood and picked Hisana up in his arms. Doing his best to shunpo with an extra person, he managed to reach the fourth division.

A moment after he had put Hisana on a bed and a healer went to look at her, Harry found himself sitting in the waiting room. Hisana did not look good. Was he supposed to find Byakuya? Or those servants that seemed to shadow her every step?

He was still pondering the thought when his decision seemed to have been made for him. A voice from behind him spoke, startling him, "Potter, what are you doing here?"

Kuchiki Byakuya had just entered the room.


	13. I know she will

**A/N:** I know it's a little late, but a merry christmas, anyway! But I'm sure I'll forget it next year, so merry christmas in advance. I hope everyone remembers the last chapter? It ended where Harry was visiting Hisana when she got her cough and while he was in the waitingroom, Byakuya stepped in. Dundundunnn.. I hope everyone enjoys!

**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter and Bleach are not mine.

**Thank you** ByakuxHisa4eva for betaing!

* * *

"I hope there is more to it than simply staring at me with your mouth wide open," Byakuya said dryly.

Harry was shaken out of his thoughts and realized that Byakuya was still waiting for his reply. He had _no_ idea what to tell the man. His wife had nearly choked to death; what was he_ supposed_ to say?

In an attempt to buy himself some time, Harry threw back the same question. "What are _you_ doing here, Kuchiki?"

Byakuya's eyes narrowed. "Do not try to be smart with me. What are you doing here, and why did I see you coming from my mansion?"

_'Shit.'_

"No kidding," Harry whispered back. He quickly turned his attention back to the noble. "Hisana started to cough uncontrollably so I brought her to the fourth. I was pretty sure that was exactly what you would have wanted me to do."

For a second, Byakuya didn't reply. Then he sat down, making sure there were two other seats between him and Harry, and asked, "Why didn't you come for me?"

Harry fought back a laugh. "You wanted me to watch her have her coughing fit, run to you, only to watch you bring her here yourself? This wasn't one of her normal coughing fits, Kuchiki. She was _choking. _She couldn't _breathe._ I couldn't have left her alone."

There was a hint of confusion on Byakuya's face. "I ordered a servant to stay with her."

Harry sniffed. "Yeah, well, Hisana sent the servant away to close some windows when it started to rain."

Byakuya sighed and for the first time, Harry saw fear in the man's eyes.

He had seen Byakuya worried and angry before. He had seen Byakuya gazing off and give away small smiles to nobody other than Hisana. He had seen Byakuya care and grow into a happier man. And even thought Harry knew that fear came with love… he never realized that Byakuya knew that, too.

Feeling rather uncomfortable, Harry shifted over a seat closer to Byakuya, but having second thoughts about laying a hand on the man's shoulder. He decided on another method.

"I'm sure she'll be okay," Harry tried. "She survived Inuzuri, she has a strong body."

"Hisana has been weak for years, Potter. You know that as well as I do."

Harry remained quiet. Yes, he knew. Hisana had been ill ever since the first time Harry had seen her so sick.

"She was in one of her healthy periods," Byakuya continued, absentmindedly staring to his hands. "Hisana's illness would always worsen a bit more than the last time before she recovered again. It's never gone this fast before."

Still did Harry not find the need to reply. To him, it was as hard as it was for Byakuya. Harry tried to reassure his own mind with how strong Hisana was and how tough she could be. But a small tug on his heart knew that even Hisana couldn't be immune to everything on will.

"She'll be all right," he said in a low voice. "I know she will."

Byakuya sighed deeply before giving in to his emotions and burying his face in his hands.

--

Harry was awfully distracted in the next couple of days. He and Byakuya had put a stop on their silent war centering Hisana, now that they both shared the fear of losing the person they both really cared about. They met every single day at her bedside and they tried to talk to her, listen to her and get her to drink the water she needed.

But Hisana had lost the ability to stay awake for longer than one or two hours.

Hisana could barely speak anymore.

Her body didn't respond to any of her commands anymore.

Hisana was slowly fading away, and neither Byakuya nor Harry could stop it.

And now, Harry was releasing all his frustration by the continuance of his Bankai-training with Keishu. Even with the exercises on the targets and his mind concentrating on controlling the powers within him, he couldn't stop thinking of Hisana and her health. Needles to say, Keishu was not pleased.

_'You are pathetic, Harry. A good warrior is able to put issues aside and get a good grip on the situation.'_

"Yeah, well," Harry started his statement, "a good warrior is… he is… well, you know, he can…"

'_Like I said, pathetic.'_

Harry shook his head and positioned himself again. Ready to strike another hit on one of the targets, Harry didn't notice fourth seat Kurotsuchi Mayuri entering the area silently. It was only after a couple of minutes that Harry turned around and saw him.

"What are you doing here?" Harry panted, exhausted and finally without a thought lingering on Hisana. "How long have you been watching?"

A simple shrug was the reply. "You should know better, lieutenant. Sensing reiatsu is still a problem for you? How sad." Mayuri started to rummage through his vest. "Maybe I can help you with it. I happen to have a pill here in my pocket…"

"No thanks," Harry interrupted. "What are you doing here?"

The creep stopped searching and lifted his head. "I have a message from captain Unohana for you. Now, where did I put that pill…"

Harry frowned. "I told you I'm not interested in your pills."

But Mayuri smiled up and said, trying to reach a tone of pure innocence, "Did I say pill? I meant paper."

It took him a little too long to fetch the note Unohana had sent Harry. Harry snatched it from Mayuri's hands and opened the note. But before he started reading, his eyes met the messenger's, whose eyes were trying to read along with Harry. "You can go."

Mayuri gave Harry a defiant smile and said, "I know I can."

"Leave."

Mocking and scolding, Mayuri turned around and left the dojo. Harry watched him leave, made sure the door was locked properly and the went back to observing the note. He was not happy.

_Dear Lieutenant Potter,_

_I was told to inform you about Urahara Kisuke's and Shihouin Yoruichi's whereabouts. They are still in the material world, and won't be allowed to return to Seireitei. Both are banished due to their part in illegal business and dangerous experimentation. _

_I hope to have informed you enough for the time being. Questions cannot be answered yet, but time will tell you what you want to know._

_Yours sincerely, _

_Unohana Retsu, Captain, Fourth Division _

"Banished?!" Harry yelled out. "Banished? How could they do this to me?"

"Didn't Mayuri-san tell you to go to the first division with him after you've read the note?" came Unohana's voice from the door Harry had just locked.

Harry jumped from surprise and faced the woman. In his head, he heard Keishu laugh. '_That good for nothing was right. Concentrate on reiatsu, Harry.'_

"Captain Unohana!" Harry said, dumping his zanpakutou on the floor and hearing Keishu swear in distance. "There was no need to come out here, I would've gotten to you, anyway!"

The healer gave Harry a warm smile and gestured towards the door. "Now, why don't you join me? I'm sure Mayuri-san went there already."

--

As Unohana had predicted, Kurotsuchi Mayuri was already present in the first division's housing. He grinned daringly to Harry and turned around, which only caused Harry to laugh inwardly at the fourth seat's cowardly behavior.

"You are late, Potter," came a distant voice. Harry searched for the source and spotted the captain commander, Shigekuni Yamamoto Genryuusai, standing at the very end of the room. His trusty cane rested under his large hands and his eyes were plastered onto the two lower seats at the far other end.

"I'm sorry," Harry said, bowing slightly. "I didn't receive the message on time."

Mayuri clacked with his tongue. Harry gritted his teeth.

"You both have heard that your captains, Urahara Kisuke and Shihouin Yoruichi, have left and have been banned from Seireitei. This leaves us with two missing captains, which is a dangerous weak point for enemies."

"Does this mean I'm in for becoming a new captain as well, sir?" Mayuri said loudly, making sure he was heard. Harry chuckled softly when the captain commander acted as if he hadn't gotten interrupted.

"We have already filled the position of second division's captain and head of the secret mobile corps. Shao Lin, better known as Soifon, has become the successor of Shihouin. Among the remaining captains, we have decided to make you two battle for the position of captain of the twelfth division."

Mayuri clapped his hands. "Wonderful. Now, even _if_ I would stand a chance against a vice-captain, what would you want me to do? Could I sack him or make him transfer divisions?"

Making a loud snoring noise, Yamamoto straightened his back. "You have no right to make decisions like these already. The fight will be held under supervision of both me and two other captains, which will be chosen at the specific day. Make sure you two make it to the first division's dojo in time next Friday."

Both Harry and Mayuri bowed deeply. As they straightened their backs again, Harry asked, "Sir, wasn't there a special procedure for new captains? Approval of other captains, defeating a captain with a hundred eye-witnesses or something like that?"

Yamamoto grunted. "I see you've paid attention to the academy's lessons, twelfth division's lieutenant. Other than what we've heard." Harry pouted. "But you are indeed right. However, since we've got several captains on your side and several on Kurotsuchi's side, some even on both, we decided that we would make you battle for it. Will I see both of you next Friday?"

It was not a question. Harry and Mayuri nodded. As they turned to leave, the commander kept them a little longer. "As for you, Kurotsuchi, you have my permission to become the new head of the science department."

A big grin made his way on Mayuri's face and the look in his eyes made Harry feel very uncomfortable, but he agreed to it, anyway. "You'd do much better than me."

They got dismissed and both took a different path to walk.

Lost in thoughts, Harry did not find a particular reason to become captain. He had nothing going on with the paperwork, he did not like controlling a division by himself and he was not in the mood for regular meetings. But when he realized that he was involved in all of that already, he started to think. What would it be like?

No, he decided. He had gained the position of a lieutenant and that was well enough. He'd tell the captain commander as soon as possible and that was that.

The following night was the best he had had in weeks. The off-scheduled day he's had completely distracted him from his worries concerning Hisana. Unfortunately, it did not last for long.

--

"I quit."

That morning, Harry went to see Isshin and they met outside of the second division. They decided to take a walk through Seireitei and after a couple of minutes filled with the noise of silence, Isshin had stated the one thing Harry had never expected the man to say.

"You quit. Why?"

Isshin shrugged. "I want to be with my family. I can't work if I don't know what's going on with my tough boy and my beautiful daughters. I can't concentrate on fights when I wonder how Masaki is managing to raise the children all alone. I want to be there as much as she is. I have a lot to make up with them."

Opening his mouth to say something, Harry realized that he couldn't think of a reply. He closed his mouth again and turned his head back to the road. "I see."

"I wasn't sure before whether I should do it or not," Isshin continued, scratching is neck. "But then I heard that Karakura is struck with awfully many hollow attacks and I want to be there to protect them. That made me cave in."

Their path turned around a corner and so they went. Harry noticed that his fingers were playing with the hilt of his zanpakutou. He let go of Keishu and let his arms hang loosely beside his body. "I thought you were working for the royal family now?"

"Which," Isshin emphasized, surprising and scaring Harry to the core, "is still OUR secret, hm?"

Harry nodded, his guard very high aimed at Isshin. "Sir, yes sir."

Isshin smiled and continued on the road. "Good. But yeah, I've talked to them. They were not happy, but according to their rules they had to let me go, anyway."

"I don't understand," Harry asked. "What rules?"

Making a fist and sticking out one finger, Isshin started to list the rules that had applied on him. "Rule number one, when a guardian shows signs of being unmotivated to protect the family and its possessions, he or she will have to leave. Rule number two," he added a finger, "guardians asking for changes in schedules, duties or any changes at all, interrogate them and if rule number one applies, follow rule number one. And last but not least, rule number three," he added a third finger, "if a guard ever dozes off during duty, fire him."

A sweatdrop grew bigger on Harry's head. "You dozed off while you were on duty?"

Isshin shrugged. "Anyway, I'm going to the material world."

Somewhere in his mind, Harry reminded someone saying that you don't leave the Gotei thirteen without any trouble. "What kind of deal did you make?"

The grin on Isshin's face was not as big as his usual grin, and it hid some pride in it. "I gave up my powers for an undecided period of time."

"What?" Harry barked out. "You said you want to protect your family, but you don't have your power anymore?"

Nodding, Isshin shrugged again. "As long as I'm there. It's good, Potter. This will make both me and my family happy."

They continued to walk in silence. They passed the tenth division, and as Harry glanced at Isshin from the corners of his eyes, he saw a glimpse of something he'd describe as homesickness. But as the walk went on, Isshin grew back to his happy self.

The walk ended as they arrived at the twelfth division. The men turned to each other and grinned awkwardly. Isshin held out his hand. "I think this is it. I'm leaving tomorrow morning, so I won't be seeing you anymore."

Harry shook the hand. "Thank you for everything. You taught me a lot."

"Don't worry about it."

They let go and Isshin turned away to leave, but glanced over his shoulder once more. "I'll be seeing you, Potter. Good luck with everything."

Harry smiled. "Yeah, you too. Thank you, again."

"You too."

"I still can't believe you dozed off while you were on duty."

"…oh, shut up."

--

It amazed him how the raindrops, and the scattering of the leaves outside, sounded like music in his ears as he walked through the large hallways of the Kuchiki mansion. How could there be something as joyful as music and something as fresh as rain when sorrow and pain was the only thing Harry could see on his path through life?

He had Rukia walking next to him, holding his hand. She had always known that her sister was weaker than regular people, but only this week she learned that Hisana might not make it to the end of the month. Having dealt with death more often, because of her history in Rukongai, Rukia knew exactly what 'death' and 'dying' meant.

"She's not going to stay with us, is she?" she asked, tilting her head to look to Harry.

Harry shook his head. "She's just as sad as we are, Rukia. Hisana prefers to stay with you and Byakuya and not leave everyone mourn her death. But who wouldn't?"

Her eyes fell down to the floor. "What's going to happen to us, then?"

For some sort of reason, Harry could not answer. He was pretty sure that Hisana was the glue that kept the four together, but when she was be gone, what _would_ happen to them?

As he looked down at Rukia, he squeezed her hand. "It's going to be all right. We'll stick together, no matter what, okay?"

Rukia nodded slowly.

A couple of feet away was the door that led them to Hisana and Byakuya. The couple had withdrawn themselves several hours earlier, so that they could avoid the stares and murmurs of the elders of the Kuchiki household.

They stopped in front of the door and Harry let Rukia knock.

Byakuya told them to enter. So they did.

The moment Rukia saw her sister – pale, weak, trembling on the bed on the floor, she pulled Harry in and released his hand as she ran towards Hisana. She knelt down near her sister's head and threw her short arms around Hisana's neck.

Hisana smiled and stroke her hand through Rukia's hair; it was beautiful to see how the sisters were still so close. Harry averted his eyes. Looking at them made him feel like he was interrupting a very private moment. It was only now that Harry noticed Byakuya, standing on the veranda, his back to the people inside.

Harry went to stand next to him. The depressing aura, lingering around the nobleman, made Harry realize how much misery Hisana's husband was going through. Not knowing what exactly to do, Harry decided to speak up.

"Thank you."

Both men spoke at the same time. They looked awkwardly at each other and averted their eyes again.

"Thank you, Potter," Byakuya started. "Whenever she felt unhappy, you were there when I was not. You made her life in Rukongai bearable. You took care of her. I want to thank you for that."

Harry smiled gently and let the moment pass. Then he started.

"Thank you, Kuchiki, for making her happy. She loves you and there was no way I could come in between you two. You've been with her throughout her illness and… well… thanks."

Byakuya was about to respond, when Hisana's voice broke through. "Are you guys going to stay there being all depressed or are you going to come here to sit with us?"

--

Another two hours had passed. Harry and Rukia were sitting against the wall outside of Hisana's room, having been kicked out by Hisana herself. She had tried to be strong for Rukia, but it took a lot of her remaining energy and she didn't want Rukia to see her sister in pain or… when she... left.

Harry had seen loneliness in Hisana's eyes as she hugged Rukia goodbye, probably for the last time. Tears had made her eyes swell up. Rukia did not notice any of that; she was too busy clinging to her big sister.

Byakuya tapped his shoulder, asking him if he and Rukia could step outside – he wanted to be alone with Hisana in her last moments. Harry had accepted.

That's where they were now – against the wall outside her room, desperately awaiting news, hoping, that maybe, Hisana just might jump out of the room, hoping, hug them, and tell them everything was okay. But nothing happened.

Harry couldn't wait much longer. He gently put his finger on the door and cracked it open ever so slightly, very slowly and without the smallest bit of noise. He saw Hisana, crying, holding Byakuya's hand. He could see her lips moving, but he could not hear what words she said. Byakuya interrupted her once, something about a blossom, but Hisana cut through it and continued whatever she was saying.

Harry quietly slid the door closed, his heart aching.

This was it, he knew it. It was as if Hisana was like sand, slipping so finely between his fingers, and he was able to catch but only a few grains in his palms.

Half an hour later, Harry heard the wooden door slid open, and Byakuya slipped out behind it, eyes red and slightly swollen. Harry caught his gaze, his forlorn gaze, and they stood there, frozen in time for a brief moment, before the noble turned soundlessly and walked away.

But the message was clear, as Harry bent down to comfort Rukia, as he struggled to fight back the tears that had surfaced.

Hisana was gone.


	14. The way that light takes

_**14. The way that light takes**_  
The mirror only copies one's expressions, not one's feelings. It was the only thing Harry could think of as he looked at his own reflection, making sure his hair was in the right place and whether his suit matched his glasses.

Today was Hisana's funeral. There had already been all kinds of rituals which Harry wouldn't have minded to accompany as well, but the family decided against it. Washing and preparing the body had been something only the family did, not friends. It was too intimate and too private.

But Byakuya had agreed that Harry was a close family friend, or at least had been a very close friend to Hisana. This allowed Harry to arrive at the funeral before the actual ceremony started; to arrive early to see Hisana's final resting place.

In a couple minutes, he'd leave the Twelfth Division offices and for the Kuchiki mansion. Even though it was a custom to have funerals in chapels or some other religious monument, Byakuya had insisted that the entire ceremony take place in the Kuchiki gardens. It had, after all, been Hisana's favorite place in the estate.

Harry heaved a very deep sigh and took the incense he bought the day after Hisana's passing.

It was time.

As he made his way through the division's halls, he noticed that all of his subordinates stood still when they felt his presence and they bowed to pay their respects. Even though Harry appreciated this gesture, he wished people wouldn't take any notice of him. He shook his head, unconsciously trying to cover his scar with his hair as he had done so many times before. He had long forgotten what it felt like to have all the attention focused on him. Now he remembered how much he had always hated it.

He quickened his pace and turned the last corner to the exit. But at the door, he was stopped by Hitsugaya.

"You're off to that Hisana's funeral, aren't you?"

Harry nodded slowly. "Will you look after the division while I'm gone?"

Hitsugaya nodded, walking forward and patting Harry on his shoulder. "It'll be all right. I know, I've been there…"

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, swapping the incense to his other hand.

"All I'm saying is," Hitsugaya continued, "that even though it hurts now, the memories will be more than enough later."

Was this supposed to be reassuring? Harry doubted this. "I'd rather still have her with us than having only the memories of her."

This was obviously not the right answer. Anger was written all over Hitsugaya's face now. "Yeah, but can you bring her back from the dead? No. So you just have to go on like she wanted you to, and with everything you've told me about her, I'd think she wouldn't want you to mourn her too much. If you want to disagree with me, fine. Just take this from me: memories might hurt from time to time, but it's all you have left."

Just when he was about to turn around and walk away, Harry reached out and grabbed his wrist. "I don't know who you lost, Toshiro, but I'm really sorry for you. You might be right; I can't get her back to life. But I do know there's got to be more left than just the memories."

With this, Harry released Hitsugaya, bowed slightly and walked away.

---

The Kuchiki garden had been completely transformed for the funeral. In the center, an altar was placed with a coffin resting behind it. In front of the coffin was the most beautiful arrangement of flowers Harry had ever seen. There were green leaves with the occasional white flower peaking out, patterned as a cross and in the open places in between, there were different colored flowers. Up at the top were blue forget-me-nots, and below on the left were white dahlias. On the right grew red anemones and below were several lavender plants.

On several spots in the arrangement were candles lit. Centered in the forget-me-nots was a picture frame with Hisana's smiling face shining brightly at Harry.

His blood ran cold when he realized that Hisana lay in that coffin behind it. Slowly, he dared to walk over to it and felt his heart plummet when he saw her pale face. He saw only her face; the rest of her body was covered in sakura blossoms.

Harry was hit with a wave of nostalgia at the sight of her pale skin and her almost just as white lips. But other than that, she didn't look any different than the times Harry had watched her sleep.

He was so caught up in the sight of his deceased friend that he hadn't noticed Byakuya approaching him. The slight touch of a hand on his shoulder made Harry turn around, slightly surprised. In the two seconds Harry's and Byakuya's eyes met, Harry saw more pain than he ever remembered feeling himself.

"You came."

Harry nodded slowly. "I wouldn't want to miss this."

Byakuya also nodded slowly as his reply. Then he turned around and faced the coffin. "What do you think of the arrangement?"

Tilting his head to the side, Harry absorbed the sight of the arrangement of flowers, candles and the picture again. "It's beautiful. Do those flowers represent anything?"

Byakuya lifted his fingers and pointed to the first flowers. "Forget-me-nots represent true love and joyful memories. The dahlias," Byakuya pointed to the white flowers below, "say that her loved ones will always be hers and she will always be theirs. Then the anemones," Byakuya's finger pointed to the red flowers and he hesitated. "They mean… truthfulness and loneliness. The lavenders represent the people she has met in her life. They tell her they have always loved her as a friend."

"Nice picks. They fit with her."

Harry stared at the coffin for a couple more minutes, then he averted his eyes and glanced over to Byakuya, whose eyes were glazed over and his mind obviously lost in thoughts. When he noticed the tempered hilt at the man's side, Harry's heart sank. "Was… everyone supposed to bring their zanpakutou?"

Byakuya had Senbonzakura tied around his waist, but that was all the represented his shinigami status. The Kenseikan had been removed from his hair and he had exchanged his shinigami robes for a white kimono and a black haori.

"No."

There was no elaboration. Harry took this as a sign to not continue asking about it, but he wasn't finished yet. "Why are you wearing yours, then? Doesn't it look a little violent for a funeral?"

Byakuya's hand went up to the hilt. "Because Hisana enjoyed watching me train with Senbonzakura. She said it was the most beautiful sight to Senbonzakura's shikai."

"Ah."

Harry had never shown his shikai to Hisana. Maybe because his wasn't really for show and Senbonzakura was easier to control. You can't choose the way that light takes.

Their thoughts were interrupted by one of the manor's servants. He bowed deeply before he addressed Byakuya. "Milord, the undertaker has arrived."

As a sign that he had heard him, Byakuya nodded. The servant stood again and went back. A moment later, a rather old man set foot on the manor's grounds.

"Lord Kuchiki," he said, his brown eyes directed to the ground, "I am very sorry for your loss."

Turning around, Byakuya managed a slight nod of acknowledgement before inviting the man towards the manor.

It wasn't that Harry minded being left alone for now. The problem lay there that he actually _was_ alone. Other than Hisana, he didn't know anyone, really. Byakuya, vaguely, and Rukia of course, but that was wall. And now that he thought about it, he hadn't seen Rukia yet. She was probably inside the mansion.

The sight of Hisana's coffin drew Harry closer to her. He walked forward a few paces and then dared to take another look at her. He placed his hands on the side and pressed his fingers against the material. His eyes were squeezed shut as he tried to fight back tears. He desperately needed to talk to her.

"Hey."

Her eyes remained shut; she showed no sign of recognition. Even though he knew she wouldn't - couldn't - react, it still hurt him. He reached out to touch her face and brushed a strand of ebony hair. Her skin was as cold as ice.

"You look like crap."

It was not the nicest thing to say, he knew that, but what else could he tell her? At least he was still honest with her.

"We'll miss you," he sighed. "A lot."

He put his forehead on the side of the coffin and looked down to the grass at his feet. "There was so much I still needed to tell you, to ask you… I guess it's always too late when someone comes to that conclusion, isn't it?"

It was weird not to hear her voice reply to him. Well, it wasn't _weird_, because if she _did_, he'd freak out, but still… it was unfamiliar and he didn't like it.

"Rukia is strong, you know," he said, standing up straight again. "She is crying for you, but when she sees how sad we are as well, she smiles and throws herself on us for comfort. Oh, well, me. I don't know if it's the same with Byakuya."

He found his hand resting on her forehead once more. He smiled and bend forwards, to plant a gentle kiss on her head and he whispered, "We'll never forget about you. Thank you for everything, Hisana."

---

The last guest had arrived and everyone was seated. The coffin was still in the same place as it was that morning, and the members of the Kuchiki family, along with Harry and Rukia, sat beside it. The other mourners sat opposite the tomb. Standing in between the three prospects was the undertaker, who made sure everyone sat correctly and would remain silent during the ceremony.

Then he turned around, his back facing the guests. He took slow steps towards Hisana and bowed before her picture. He lit a fire and started to burn one of the incenses. Then he turned back to the mourners and started to read a sutra, during which the family would burn incense for the deceased as well.

His low and monotonous voice seemed to be magnified by the dead silence in the garden.

_"The Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, while dwelling in the deep Perfection of Wisdom…"_

Byakuya stood up and Harry saw Rukia standing up next to him, reaching out for his hand. Together they walked to the coffin and bowed. Then Byakuya lifted Rukia up so she could light the second stick of incense. Byakuya's face was like stone: hard and expressionless. Harry remembered Hisana telling him once that this was his way of coping with emotions.

_"Form is not different from emptiness; emptiness is not different from form."_

Rukia and Byakuya had returned to their seats and had sat down. Now an elderly man stood and repeated the process of bowing and burning incense. Harry recognized him as a man Hisana had always shown great respect for. Maybe the head elder?

_"Form is indeed emptiness; emptiness is indeed form."_

The undertaker's dull voice had a sleepy effect on Harry's brain. Flashes of his time with Hisana and Rukia in Rukongai plagued his memory. The first time he saw her, running away from him. The first time they met; he could almost hear the song she was singing to calm down her baby sister again.

_"Feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness are also like this."_

The small garden of fruit in the hidden building. Rukia biting in the strawberries while watching both of them with her big, curious eyes. The fear he had felt when he noticed the sisters were gone, the day after. His shock when he saw them again, Hisana being assaulted and Rukia sitting on a tree branch, trying to figure out what was happening.

_"All dharma have the nature of emptiness."_

The pain he felt when Hisana told him she was offered to live with nobility. His prediction about Byakuya's proposal and the proposal itself. The wedding ceremony he didn't want to attend. Their walk through the Kuchiki garden, and sneaking off to a legendary place in Soul Society.

_"They neither arise nor perish; they are neither impure nor pure."_

Suddenly, someone poked him in his side, shaking him from his thoughts. Harry looked up to see Rukia standing next to him, gesturing that it was his turn. One glance towards Byakuya and a nod from the man made Harry raise up and walk towards the tomb.

He had never felt this unsure in his steps before. He couldn't even feel his legs moving anymore. Yet he was walking. Averting his eyes was no use; Hisana's tomb was the only thing he could see.

_"They neither increase nor decrease."_

And suddenly he was walking back to his seat. Harry turned his head to see that the incense he brought was burning already; he must've lit it without lingering on it.

The sutra was coming to an end and now it was up to the guests. They stood up, walked to the coffin, bowed and returned to their places. It was a gesture of their last respects towards Hisana.

_"Thus in emptiness there is no form..."_

As Harry closed his eyes, he could see Hisana sitting in Rukongai, all sweaty and shivering during a warm day in the cold autumn. That must have been the start of her illness.

_"... no feeling..."_

Shaking his head to get rid of the pictures inside him, Harry wanted to concentrate on the last words of the sutra.

_"...no perception..."_

Did he ever truly tell her how glad he was that she found happiness?

_"...no mental formations..."_

Would she have been satisfied with her last hours? Maybe she never wanted to spend them with Harry among the people she loved. Byakuya and Rukia were most important in her life, right?

_"...no consciousness."_

He realized that Hisana would have told him if she didn't want his company. He saved her life as well, he brought her happiness as well, and they had a connection as well. She was probably content with the last people to see her.

The sutra had ended and everyone present stood up once more and bowed towards the tomb. After that, several people went home, for they had only come to pay their respects. Several other people remained standing, while others came walking up to the family to tell them how sorry they were for their loss.

Rukia behaved perfectly. She bowed and thanked everyone who expressed their sadness for her, to lose her sister at such a young age. Byakuya only replied with a nod of his head. The rest of the family had suddenly disappeared back into the mansion.

---

The coldness of the late and dark night whipped Harry's face like knifes. Even so, he wrestled his way against the wind, out of the gardens, off the Kuchiki grounds. The sky was cloudy, yet a full moon illuminated the area below. Harry remembered the route he and Hisana had walked towards the legendary hill, with the mysterious plant growing on it.

Arriving at the top, Harry found he wasn't the only one with the idea of going up there. In a kneeling position in front of the bush, was Byakuya, lost in thoughts and staring at the exposed flowers.

The flowers were beautiful. Harry had never seen them before; but the last time he went there, his life wasn't very complicated for him. Now, the entire plant was opening up. The majority of flower petals were white, but now and then, a pink or turquoise flower would jump out.

Careful not to make a sound, Harry walked towards Byakuya and knelt down beside him. The noble man tilted his head just an inch, but Harry understood that there was no problem with him joining the other man.

"About Rukia," Byakuya started.

Harry braced himself. He knew that Rukia would come up, and pretty soon, too. "What about her?"

Byakuya rested his hands on his knees. "Hisana asked me to take her in."

"That was what you two were talking about when we left the room, wasn't it?"

He didn't need to explain that he was talking about the day she had died. Byakuya nodded.

"She is old enough to take on a noble lifestyle and with her time in the academy, she won't be as confined as Hisana was afraid of before."

A sigh of wind blew through Harry's hair. The cold eased his upcoming headache. "You're going to adopt her, then?"

Byakuya nodded. "She will be my sister. I will protect her, just like Hisana had protected her."

There was no need to continue. Harry must've known something like this was going to come along; it didn't shock him as much as he would have thought.

"Rukia will be all right," Harry murmured, more to himself than to anyone else. "Even when dying, she was protecting her sister. Rukia will be all right. Hisana took care of it."


	15. Turn around once

**A/N:** Hi there! I've been getting a lot of complains about the late updates. And I am truly sorry. I've somehow lost my motivation, but when I saw the amount of alerts and favorites, I couldn't help but feel guilty about it. And I might have promised things like this before, but I'm going to update sooner! I promise! Thank you all for sticking to WHWTO this long!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach or Harry Potter.

**Thank you ByakuxHisa4eva** for the beta-reading!

* * *

Even though his inner world always reminded Harry of the night Cedric died, it had also become a place of inner sanctum for him – a place of solitude; and he was grateful for it. The man with the slitted eyes and flaring nostrils was no longer Mr. Scares-the-crap-out-of-me, but had become part of the familiar and warm surroundings.

The area of his soul was always dim – no flowers and bright colors, and the clouds in the sky never moved an inch - but that never really mattered to Harry. He was able to see everything and that was most important.

But the fact that his own zanpakutou was attacking him with glints of hatred evident in his eyes, now _that_ was something that mattered.

"Come ON you pathetic wimp! If you want me to materialize _out_ of this world, then _cut_ me! I've never grown this frustrated with you before!"

Harry swore and ducked to avoid the sword shooting up at him. "You must _really_ hate me. You get more frustrated every time we train."

"Don't become cocky, you lazy ass. Now if you were able to increase your strength as much as you've boosted your confidence, we'll talk again!"

Keishu was far from happy with his shinigami and he did not mind showing it to the world. "We have been training for weeks, months even. And we're getting nowhere!"

"Maybe," Harry said, hauling his sword towards Keishu, "if you were a little more motivating and encouraging, I might get what's going on in that head of yours!"

"Excuses!" roared Keishu. He disappeared only to appear behind Harry again. "You wouldn't be able to cut me if -"

"I'm sorry, I couldn't catch that. What did you say?"

No reply. But Harry didn't really expect one. Not after having pierced his sword through Keishu's clothing and thereby harming his body. Keishu was trying to discover what just happened and did not focus on Harry's mocking. "No more big words for you now, huh?"

The same instant, Keishu vanished. And so did the world around him.

When Harry regained his vision, he saw that he was standing in the Twelfth Division's training grounds. There was something irregular about his surroundings, yet Harry couldn't quite pinpoint the exact distubance. Then he saw Keishu sitting on the floor in front of him.

"Are you all right?" asked Harry, reaching out a hand to help his Zanpakutou. Keishu snorted and slapped it away. "You cut me. Quite badly. But at least I've materialized now."

It had hit Harry quite so hardly up till then – when realization seemed to crash on him at at once. He had hit his Zanpakutou. Cut it. And now the physical manifestation of his Zanpakutou was with him on the training grounds. Materialized in front of him. He grinned. "Wicked."

"Now," Keishu said, slowly rubbing his injury, which promptly disappeared under his touch, "let's continue. I need you to go shikai."

Harry did as he was told. He turned the hilt and commanded his Zanpakutou into the first release. "_Blind them all, Keishu._"

He felt nothing – which was odd. The first time he released shikai, it was rather difficult to control, and he could feel a constant pain. It had lessened as Harry learned to control it, but that unusual feeling always seemed to be there in his chest.

But now – nothing.

"That's supposed to happen," Keishu explained, seeing the confusing look etched on his face. "I'm no longer inside your soul and so you cannot feel whatever I feel when you release your shikai."

"Then how am I able to release?" Harry asked. Keishu shrugged in response. "The power needs to come from your body; it's still your reiatsu that it works on."

"So what's next?"

"Nothing," came the reply. "You were able to go shikai even when I'm not within you. That's all you were to do now."

Confusion twirled around in Harry's head. "Are you saying that I'm able to use Bankai from now on?"

He wished he hadn't asked; Keishu started laughing so hard he doubled over. He snorted. "Idiot," he scoffed, "Of course not! If it were so simple, why would captains require ten extra years of training to master it?"

"But we have been training since I achieved Shikai," Harry said, counting on his fingers. "We started that about six years ago."

"Meaning you have at least four more years to go, no?" Keishu said dryly, as if mocking Harry's ability to do basic math.

"I've managed to materialize you, though," came his reply. "You expected that wouldn't happen for at least a year."

Keishu raised an eyebrow. "What makes you think that?"

The grin on Harry's face made Keishu shudder. "You might be part of me... but don't forget that I'm also part of you."

---

Rukia had decided pay a visit to the Twelfth that day. She was quite clearly in a very pissed-off mood, and Harry hastened to calm her nerves. He pulled her into his office and pushed her into a chair. "And now you're going to tell me what's wrong with you."

"That Kuchiki-ass -" she cried out, but she was quickly interrupted by Harry. "Your sister was a Kuchiki as well."

A second of silence in which Rukia searched for words, but then gave up and burst into tears. "I don't want to live with him! Nee-san was my sister, but this guy isn't my brother! He just wants to adopt me because he feels lonely! He never showed _any_ kind of interest in me and now he wants me to become his sister?!"

"That's not true and you know it." Harry pointed out. "I've told you that Byakuya wanted to take you in when he and Hisana got engaged, so that you and Hisana wouldn't be separated from each other. I think he wants to adopt you to be sure his wife's little sister is safe."

Rukia jumped up, her eyes sparkling with tears. "I'm already eleven! I can manage fine by myself. I'll show him what I'm made of! I survived Rukongai, I'm not helpless!"

"I want you to sit down," Harry said, raising his voice.

Obeying, she sat down again. She folded her hands and started playing with her fingers. "That's what I'll be from now on though, huh?" Rukia said sadly, looking down at her hands. "His wife's little sister'?"

Harry wished he had never said that. "You are important to him," he said gently. "He has the power to do anything he'd like and he could have completely ignored you and never spoke to you again. But he didn't chose that; he decided he wanted you to be around so that he can protect another person he cares about."

"Oh please, stop talking crap."

He stopped. And she sighed. The air in the room was thick with tension and uneasiness; neither of them felt like talking much anymore. Harry pulled out a chair from a corner and put it next to Rukia's. She sighed again and then dried her tears on her sleeve. He wrapped an arm around her.

No, Byakuya did not want to adopt Rukia because he had to out of duty. And no, he was not adopting her just because his wife wanted him to. And definitely not just because he was feeling lonely. He was adopting Rukia because he wished to and if he wished for something, he'd make sure he'd get it.

"You'll still be like my brother, right?"

It wasn't until the reunion between the three in Rukongai that Harry felt brotherly over Rukia. Especially after he got over his romantic feelings for Hisana, she had become his friend and Rukia was their sister. You may not choose the family your born in, but you can choose the family you'll continue living with. And you don't abandon your family.

"Yeah, of course."

Rukia sniffed and dug her fingers in his arm.

"Thank you."

---

The decisive Friday had arrived: Harry would be contesting against his third seat Kurotsuchi Mayuri to fight for the title of Captain. Harry woke up early. Before their fight would even start, he wanted to tell the Captain Commander that he didn't want to become captain. He would not be as good as his processor and he would not even want to try to replace him.

"Are you ready for your downfall, Lieutenant Potter?"

Harry spun around to see Mayuri standing in his doorway. His zanpakutou hung at his waist and his overly-large nails tapped on the door-frame. There was a slight hint of amusement in his eyes. Harry chose to ignore him. Not even Mayuri would be able to wreck his decision not to fight for the rank.

"You know, when I've beaten you, I will be in charge of the division… now what to do with it… Of course, I have been planning a _lot_ since the opportunity opened up, but you know…"

"Shut up, Kurotsuchi," Harry snarled, surprised by his own demeanor. Wasn't he going to let it pass by? "You'll have to defeat me, your vice-captain, to become first seat of twelfth." Now he was surprised by his ego _and_ his sudden change in mind. "I won't let the division fall to ruins by your influence."

"Oh?" Mayuri said, straightening his back. "I don't think you can surpass my super_b_ Shikai-development. But if you think you're all special, be my guest! I will see you in a couple of hours."

It was a good thing Mayuri took off that moment. Harry could have done a lot of damage with the heavy vase he hurled at the door.

---

There was too little air in his lungs. Inhaling didn't work well enough; he'd run short of oxygen anyway. Panting, Harry wiped the strike of blood out of his eye and focused on Mayuri. His third seat looked much worse than Harry did, he concluded with a slight tingle of pride. Mayuri's shoulder was pierced through and his entire left arm was soaked in blood. It was not a fight to the death, but neither of them seemed to mind challenging that guideline a bit.

Shikai had not yet been an option. Both men were too stubborn to be the first to release, and much to Mayuri's disadvantage, his lieutenant didn't even seem to need his Shikai yet.

Needless to say, Harry was holding back. He had learned by experience that this was the best way of fighting: don't _ever_ show the enemy what you're up to, you might be able to make some awesome surprise-moves. He had used this method since he came to Seireitei, he made it this far, he wouldn't change this tactic for the world.

It was bad enough that he was his third seat as an enemy. They were fighting for the same position and for the same goal: to be another high ranked soldier to protect souls; though Harry seriously had his doubts about Mayuri's reasons.

Harry was preparing to attack Mayuri's other shoulder. He had learned that his opponent only used his right arm to wield his zanpakutou. His left arm was almost paralyzed because of the nerves Harry had cut through. But then Mayuri decided to take their battle to the next level.

"Tear off, Ashisogi Jizou."

His zanpakutou started to reform. The blade divided up in three and the hilt transformed into something… was that a baby's head?

"Meet my zanpakutou, _Lieutenant_," Mayuri spat, panting heavily. He stretched out the arm in which he held his zanpakutou. "I hope the fourth has enough antidotes, because I cannot promise you'll make it out alive."

"I just hope the fourth has enough after-sun lotion," Harry mocked. Antidotes? No way was he going to get poisoned.

Just when Mayuri was going to release the first stream of poisonous gas, Harry pointed his zanpakutou towards Mayuri and cried, "Blind them all, Keishu!"

His zanpakutou became the charcoal black sword he had seen so many times before. The slight bow in the blade was reaching for where the light came from, but Harry knew that he didn't have to rely on the sun anymore. His reiatsu was enough.

He was just going to do it. There were three captains watching, including Yamamoto. He also recognized the captain of the fourth division, Unohana Retsu, and a casual aquaintance of his, Ukitake Jyuushiro. Now to what division was he appointed again?

Mentally beating him for letting his mind wander, Harry shook his head and concentrated on Mayuri again. Shikais were released. One blow with Keishu and Harry would win. The problem was… he could only use this attack once. Maybe he should weaken his opponent some more, first.

Deciding that he would be the one to make the first move, Harry quickly turned his zanpakutou so that the bow was pointing up. He concentrated his reiatsu in his wrist and shunpoed closer to Mayuri. When only a couple of feet away, Harry said, stern but calm, "Shine your light, Nagori."

Several orbs of light appeared and circled around Mayuri. The third seat watched them with raised eyebrows and in a position in which he could easily flee, but he observed them first. When nothing happened, he relaxed some and started to laugh. "Impressive fireflies, sir!"

"Thanks," Harry grinned. He made Keishu turn around once and the so-called fireflies became larger and brighter. "How do you like them now?"

As if his instincts told him so, Mayuri lowered his arms and watched the light orbs. "Interesting… subjects…"

"Hmhm," Harry nodded, slowly turning his zanpakutou again and again. With every turn his zanpakutou made, the orbs became brighter and larger. "They're pretty amazing, aren't they?"

Mayuri nodded slowly, his eyes focused on the orb in front of him. Now, Harry raised his sword and the orbs moved nearer, so the circle around Mayuri was closing. "Sometimes I use them as a light to read in my bed."

_"Don't mock me."_

"You should…" Mayuri agreed, nodding. "Now where did I put my books…"

"I think you left them in the dressing room." Harry said, grinning devilishly at the effect of confusion on his enemy.

"Strange… I do not remember changing clothes… and… where is my… wow this smell… what is that..?"

"I think it's your poison."

"Poison? Oh, yes, I remember. I think I brought my antidotes…"

"With your books?"

"Oh, yes, I believe so."

"Why don't you get them?"

Now Mayuri was almost drooling from confusion. Harry knew he may have overdone it a little, but he didn't mind much. It was time to finish it. Harry pointed his zanpakutou towards Mayuri and started collecting reiatsu.

"Shine your light…"

The blade started moving. The strength of his reiatsu started straightening the material.

"Hoteru."

Immediately, all his strength was used in the blow erupting from his zanpakutou. It was a good thing that Harry himself was immune to the heat. The force of the hot wind threw Mayuri off his feet and blew him into the back wall.

The unconscious body fell down on the floor and Harry waited for something to happen. Maybe a hidden trick from Mayuri, maybe the deep voice of the commander.

It took a few seconds before something happened. Unohana appeared next to Mayuri and knelt down, rolling him over on his back. She started healing him, but not before she gave Harry an approving look.

"Well done!" Yamamoto said, entering the dojo, Ukitake on his side. "Well done. You have shown us much more than we thought you were capable of."

"Thank you," Harry said, bowing slightly. He had cramp in his sides. "I hope I didn't disappoint you."

"Not at all," Ukitake said friendlily. "In fact, I think we should go prepare the ceremony of appointing a new captain."

"Thank you so much," Harry said again.

"There is one more thing," Yamamoto said. "I want you to go in training with captain Ukitake, so that you will reach your Bankai within an appropriate time."

Harry shifted on his feet. "I have been training a lot; I hope I am close to achieving it."

Ukitake put his hand on Harry's shoulder. "You will do just fine. Now go get some rest, we will notify you as soon as everything is planned."

Bowing once more, Harry quickly glanced over to Mayuri, who was still unconscious. He then took off and shunpoed towards his division.

---

A week has passed since Harry's unexpected entrance as a captain. Needless to say, there were captains that were not happy with this decision. It was only because of three highly-respected captains with their trust in Harry that the remaining leaders accepted him in their group. There was only one thing that they were pleased with: Harry's choice of lieutenant.

"A very good decision," dude of seventh (the name still escaped him) had told him. "Very good. The boy is a genius. Very strong."

The tone of voice barely seemed to conceal the desire that suggested his now-lieutenant would have been a better choice for captain than Harry.

Harry had become captain, but Mayuri wasn't going to be ignored. The other man was now appointed as head of the Research and Development Department. "That's a captain as well, you know."

"Yeah, sure."

Harry was not pleased with the influence and made sure Mayuri was still third seat.

Now, Harry sat at his desk, trying to decide what he should do with all ruined paperwork he had doodled on only a couple of weeks ago. Should he rewrite it and throw it out or blame Mayuri?

There was a knock on the door and the sound of muffled voices. "Come in."

Harry's lieutenant, Hitsugaya Toushiro, pushed the door open. "Captain, here are the new recruits."

"Ah," Harry said. He found it weird to welcome recruits himself; usually, Urahara would be standing next to him, doing all the work. Now it was Hitsugaya turn to stand and watch.

Behind Hitsugaya stood two men. The first one was bald and bold. His shiny head entered the room first and the rest of his body followed. His zanpakutou wasn't tied to his belt, but instead rested across his shoulders. "Yo, I'm Madarame Ikkaku."

The second man entered. "Ikkaku, please, where did your manners go?"

Harry sweat dropped. A man with colored chicken feathers in his hair and eyebrows should _not_ be saying something about manners when looking like that. But making sure he showed manners himself, Harry straightened his back and bowed slightly.

The feathered man bowed back, deeper than Harry did. "Good afternoon, sir, my name is Yumichika Ayasegawa."

"I know," Harry said. "I signed for your transfer. I'm Harry Potter."

"We know," Madarame answered. "I did my homework and thought it would be nice to know at least the name of the man who's going to be my superior."

Yumichika suppressed a chuckle. Madarame grinned.

Harry did his utmost best to ignore Hitsugaya, who didn't even bother trying to suppress his laughter.


	16. He could feel it

_The room was dark. Years ago, there were torches, lighting the walls, but they had long lost their fuel to burn. Pulling out his wand, he tried to, once again, light them with flames. With no result. He found it odd; magic was magic and magic was to obey him, not refuse him. There was no need for swearing though; there was no need for panic. People feared him and would be too afraid to defend themselves if they would come eye-to-eye with him. Besides, this place was abandoned. Deserted. Empty. Perfect for a hide-out. Now that _he_ was gone, there was no obstacle to stop him on his way. He needed the blood._

_He remembered exactly where to go. After he had slid through the gap beneath the lake, he found a way through the dirt to the chamber. With one flick of his wand, he was able to clear away the field of fallen rock. Somewhere he knew that Potter had to be involved in those._

_It didn't matter that he had to walk over countless of human bones; it made him feel powerful, supreme, superior to the dead. Walking over them gave him a satisfying feeling. He knew that even some of his loyal followers thought of him grotesque, he felt little need to care. They've never felt the rush of the power before._

_The rush of power._

_Oh, how he longed to get it back. Crossing the path of bones was fulfilling, yes, but it did not satisfy him._

_He needed the boy for the sake of his own pride and life. He was sure the boy was still out there._

_He could feel it._

_Stopping in front of the entrance to the room, he examined the door. The last time he had been there, the lock was coated with half a century's worth of dust. Now, scratches and shapes were curved into the dust, as if someone had run his finger down the lock. But he was wasting his time daydreaming and wondering. He had to get through. He hissed, forming his tongue around the language of the snakes - he told the door to open up. It did._

_While entering the chamber of secrets once again, Voldemort couldn't help but feel frustrated. How come the boy had survived crossing through the veil? It was infamous for what it did. When you touched the veil and walked, or in Potter's case, rolled through, you'd die. Even Potter had to die._

_Why hadn't he ever heard of this kind of magic before? He knew Dark Magic and this wasn't it. Horcruxes were dark magic, curses and killing was dark magic. The inferi were Dark Magic. He _himself_ was Dark Magic._

_But his ideas had all been ridiculous, not to mention 'impossible'. Never had a second world been discovered and never was a limbo found. But did that mean there really wasn't any of those things? He had mastered more things in one lifetime than the wizarding world had in centuries – things that they didn't dare try to accomplish. _

_What if his calculations _were_ right and there _was_ a limbo leading to a different world? Potter must have found a way to get through to it. Impressive, but not good enough. He'd find a way. A way that wouldn't reject him._

_Musing again, he squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again. Focus. It has to be around here somewhere. _

_He could smell death in the chamber. It smelled pretty bad, but it was a small price he had to pay. After this little trip, he'd find him. He'd find the boy again. All he needed was the basilisk's fang, used several years ago to pierce through Potter's arm. His blood would still be there. It would have dried up, but it hadn't evaporated. Not even after this many years. Even the basilisk's poison would not harm him. His source had told him that the basilisk's poison would lose its effect when it was no longer in contact with any body fluid or blood of the basilisk itself. Voldemort was pretty sure it wasn't in contact with any of those._

_If this didn't work, he would have to make his calculations all over again. And he would not like it._

_Maybe he'd kill his poison expert if it didn't work. No, that was not very likely; he needed the fool for his future plans._

_There it was. The fang he needed to get to the boy. Finally…_

…_finally…_

…_he'd get his revenge._


	17. Eyes wide open

**A/N:** I've been getting questions whether the previous chapter was a filler-chapter. No, it wasn't!

With my regular betareader ByakuxHisa4eva drowning in her pile of homework, I was very very very happy to hear that **Red Princess** would give beta-reading a shot. Thank you very much!

Please enjoy the chapter!

* * *

In the year that Madarame Ikkaku and Ayasegawa Yumichika had been part of the twelfth division, the shinigami had dealt with a lot more fighting than they were used to. The two men provoked everyone into a fight, either verbally or physically. Though, of course, they preferred the latter.

Harry was _not_ very fond of them, and neither was Hitsugaya. Fortunately, they had discovered that both Ikkaku and Yumichika were very easy to figure out. It was obvious that the men were rude and annoying, but they also knew their places and showed respect and loyalty to their superiors. Harry and Hitsugaya had decided that they should keep their respects to the others shown as well.

But that didn't mean they couldn't mock them _sometimes_, right?

For they had found out that Yumichika was exceedingly vain. He would only use toilets of which he knew he was the first one to use after cleaning. And under his belt, he hid a small, star-shaped mirror, on which was written 'You look absolutely beautiful today!' with way too happy smiley faces on both sides. Harry had caught Yumichika several times, answering the mirror with a toothy smile, a childish wink, a girly blush, and a squeaky voice saying, "Ah, well, obviously." But there was something even more terrifying: not only was his hair sacred…

His horribly, horribly hideous feathers were, too.

His friend Ikkaku knew this all too well. Ikkaku had made it into a game to cut the feathers as short as possible, without Yumichika noticing. There were countless of times in which Hitsugaya had to get a broom and sweep up yet another very small piece of yellow or red. And unlike than his friend, Ikkaku _never_ used the bathroom. "Fresh air is good for more than just your nose and brain," he claimed. By now, every member of the twelfth had learned to avoid the garden in the back of the division grounds. In addition, Ikkaku didn't care about what people thought of him. He always burped, yelled, cursed, and drank whenever he pleased; it was hard finding his weakest spot. Then, one day, Hitsugaya caught Yumichika using Ikkaku's head to clean his teeth and he was hit. Very, very hard.

"Where did our good friends the disturbances go?" Harry asked casually, not even bothering to try to resist the urge of doodling on his paperwork. He had put one pile on the left side of his desk, one in the middle, one on the right side. Then there were papers spread out in between them.

"Which one?" Hitsugaya replied, looking up from his two very tidy and neat piles. He frowned upon seeing Harry's mess.

"Shoot me. All three."

"Disturbance 'Lame and Scary' is annoying the crap out of Kuchiki."

Harry grinned. "Mayuri's in the right place, then. He's obviously busy, let's not disturb him."

"Disturbance 'Chicken Man' is taking his nap 'out of duty to his precious skin,'" Hitsugaya said, using his index-fingers to make quotation marks.

"Wake him."

"And last and probably least, Disturbance 'Baldy' is creating a device to scare the shit out of Disturbance C.M., so that he'll get the 'wrinkled skin of stress!'" More quotation marks.

"…"

"…"

"They are sick."

"Pathetic."

---

Harry didn't always expect the most out of his subordinates. He knew he could count on Hitsugaya, he knew he loved abusing his superiority over Mayuri, but then there were Ikkaku and Yumichika. Of course, his shinigami were brilliant, but they couldn't handle responsibility, lacked knowledge or were just plain lazy. And some suffered from all three.

"And that is why," Harry said, "I am sending you out to Ishida Souken in the material world."

Bored as he was, Ikkaku stared out of the window and gave a short nod. Yumichika _had_ been paying attention, though, and wanted to make everything clear one more time. "I don't think Mr. Bald over there has heard you, captain."

"OI!" Ikkaku yelled, jumping up from his seat. "I'm shaven, not bald!"

"_That_ he thinks…"

Before it could end up quite bad (Harry could already see the tears rolling down Yumichika's face in mourning for his precious feathers), Hitsugaya jumped in between. "If _you_ have been paying attention, Madarame, I'm sure you can explain to Yumichika the assignment once more?"

"No," Ikkaku admitted. "Tell me again, _please_, Cap?"

Harry sighed. "Like I said, Ishida Souken, one of the rare groups of Quincy, would like to have an appointment with someone in Seireitei to make a deal over hollow-slaughtering in the material world. I want you two to go down there. Ikkaku, I want you to stay in the town he lives to purify the hollows that appear, thereby doing his job. Yumichika, I want you to accompany Souken to the first division. Then you will report back to me. After that, I am going to give you the order of going down again to help Ikkaku. Or actually, to make sure Ikkaku does his work."

"Hey."

"Don't act. Anyway, come back to the twelfth when I tell you to, understood?"

Yes, both men understood. Yumichika got to his feet, followed by his friend. But before taking off, Yumichika turned around and asked, "Captain, if that Souken-guy needs to come back, will we have to accompany him as well?"

Harry nodded. "I will call you when you need to come back, Ayasegawa. Good luck."

Ikkaku grunted and left the room. Yumichika didn't until he smiled his broad smile and bowed deep for both captain and lieutenant.

When he had closed the door, Hitsugaya sat down. "Like you said… pathetic."

Harry just grinned.

---

"Oi, Yumichika?"

"What is it?"

"I still don't know what Captain 'Misshapen Forehead' wants us to do."

"Save the day in the material world after taking a twisted old fool to the twisted old man of Seireitei. Kill some hollows, get the old fool back, and then come back here again."

"Why didn't they send scientist 'Freak-o'?"

"I think it was because Lieutenant 'Growing Disorder' sent him out to annoy Kuchiki."

"They trust us more."

"That too. The beauty of loyalty."

"They're morons."

"Yup."

---

There were days in which people would complain about the Seireitei. Shinigami had been trained for action, not for laying on the grass, taking a nap, avoiding paperwork. Shinigami were respected by the others for their bravery, their power, and their dedication to the protection of souls.

Not for falling asleep on top of your paperwork and having your own autograph printed on your forehead because the ink was still wet.

That precise day, something happened. Something that made people afraid to wish for something more exiting.

The captain of the eleventh squad got killed.

All captains had received a Hell butterfly, telling them that there was an urgent meeting and they were to gather in the hall of the first division immediately.

"Hitsugaya," Harry said after rushing through the room, looking for his haori. "Make sure Ikkaku and Yumichika are stationed. You take the report from Yumichika if I'm not back yet."

"Got it," Hitsugaya said.

Harry nodded and ran another circle around the room. "Good."

"I meant your haori."

Pulling back his arm just in time, Harry raced through the door after almost ripping his haori into pieces. "Good luck! Be back as soon as possible! And thanks!"

Hitsugaya grinned. "How dare _he_ say something about his subordinates…"

Only a couple of seconds later, Harry entered the hall of the first division. He noticed that he was earlier than most, and took this time to walk over to his position in the room. He greeted Ukitake and Kyouraku, who had already entered, and nodded politely to Unohana, who was in as well.

In the next five minutes, all the captains had arrived and the meeting started. Shigekuni Yamamoto Genryuusai demanded all their attention by tapping his cane on the floor twice, and the hall became silent.

"We all regret the loss of a man who was loyal to his people and who had a heart for the society. But because we are still an army, we cannot have people getting defeated. That is why I hereby introduce Zaraki Kenpachi as the new captain of the eleventh division."

Murmurs started up in the room. Zaraki Kenpachi… this was a name not familiar to anyone. There were no records of him from the academy and Zaraki… wasn't that the eightieth and lowest district of Rukongai? Needless to say, the captains didn't care much for the man.

But when the doors opened and a massive reiatsu filled the room, they were convinced otherwise. Zaraki Kenpachi, a man unshaven and very, very large, who had rips in his clothes and the blood still on the coat of its predecessor, took big and confident steps forward and went to stand next to Ukitake and opposite Harry. He didn't say a word.

The captain commander didn't seem to mind much. "On to the next topic. As we all know, Captain Kuchiki of the sixth will retire soon. He is no longer capable of good fighting and will be retiring in his own mansion. Sadly, his shinigami powers will be stripped from him because he will be leaving the division. As is expected, Captain Kuchiki's grandson Kuchiki Byakuya will be an excellent successor. I have already received the needed approval of several captains and Kuchiki Byakuya will be starting the day his grandfather leaves."

Captain Kuchiki nodded. He hadn't shown any sign of regret or sadness when the captain commander said he would be stripped of his powers. Being made out of stone must run in the family, Harry decided.

"Also," Yamamoto continued, "we are missing the captain of the third division. He is in the fourth division for care."

He nodded to Unohana. She took a step forward and started speaking. "His conditions are very bad. I am very sorry to say that he might not make it until the end of the month."

She bowed and took the step back. Several captains sighed.

"Soooo," Kyouraku said, "have you got anyone in mind?"

"That's a bit harsh," Ukitake said. "The man is our friend, isn't he?"

"Well, yes," Kyouraku started, "But right now, he is another captain, another leader of a strong organization. Any missing spot could be a weakness, right?"

"Right." Another tap of the cane. "Ichimaru Gin."

Harry gasped. "Gin? But if anyone is weird and disloyal…"

"Silence." Yamamoto ordered. Harry shut up immediately. "Ichimaru Gin is an excellent fighter and I have heard from more captains that they agree with me. Your single vote won't stop us from accepting Ichimaru as a captain. You are dismissed."

Slowly, every captain left. Harry didn't feel like staying much longer. He shunpoed away as soon as he had the chance.

---

In his time in Rukongai, he had been angry with people. Back in Hogwarts he had been raging mad at people. He had loathed people and he had been disgusted by them. Even back in Privet Drive, he had been irritated by them.

But he didn't think he'd been this livid at someone before.

"You two…"

When he had come back from the meeting, he found Hitsugaya, sitting on his chair, his face pale and his eyes wide open.

"How _STUPID_ can you be?"

Opposite Hitsugaya were Ikkaku and Yumichika. They sat on their knees and seemed to feel horrible. Harry had demanded an explanation, for they were supposed to be on their mission.

"The assignment was simple. _ONLY _you two_ IDIOTS _would be able to screw it up! _ALL_ I asked was to protect the area from Hollows and accompany a man from their world to the first division in ours. _But no, OF COURSE it was too hard for you! _Instead of _LISTENING_ to your orders and thereby _OBEYING _your superior, you started _playing a game_?! THE MAN WAS _EXPECTING _YOU! Of _course _he didn't fight those attacking hollows, he first thought it would be _you two_!"

After a moment of silence, Ikkaku told him that Ishida Souken had been killed in a hollow-attack. A hollow-attack they could have prevented.

If only they had been there.

"Instead you two placed a BET on whether he'd believe it if you two would lure him into using a _map you were drawing_ to get to the captain commander?"

They were supposed to have been there for at least an hour.

"I cannot work like this with you two! You will be leaving the twelfth division as soon as the captain commander is done with you! I wouldn't even care if he _ripped you to pieces!_ Now _leave_, go to the first. Do you need a map or do you want to get killed now?"

Ikkaku and Yumichika avoided eye-contact with each other and with their two superiors. Then Yumichika spoke up, while he remained staring to the floor. "We are very sorry it happened like this. I will accept any punishment they have for us, but please let us keep our shinigami-powers."

"I am not the judge of that," Harry snorted.

"It was me, sir," Ikkaku said. "I told Yumichika that it might be fun if-"

"If you screwed up? We figured such!" Hitsugaya had come to his feet. "You heard the captain, leave and go see the commander. He is waiting for you two."

The men nodded and came to their feet.

Harry didn't feel the slightest hint of remorse as he saw the two men walking away, defeat in their eyes, shaking on their knees.

---

"I heard Kuchiki became captain?" Hitsugaya said, sipping his drink.

Harry nodded in response. "Yeah, this afternoon. He got sixth."

The night air was cool and pleasant on his skin. Harry inhaled deep and sniffed the scent of his chocolate milk. He had invited Hitsugaya to a café in the second district to have a drink after all the events of the last days. They sat outside with their cups of hot drinks and let their minds wander. While Hitsugaya kept discussing the topics which had occupied the last few days, all Harry wanted was to let everything go.

"What about Ikkaku and Yumichika?"

Shifting into a more comfortable position, Harry put down his drink next to him. He heaved a sigh before answering. "Transferred to eleventh. Turns out that that new Kenpachi-guy really knows what he's doing. Made them clean the entire building after taking their zanpakutou with the promise they'd get it back when the place was spotless. Another condition was that they train with the captain three times a week for two months; they'll get tough and hopefully a bit more understanding of their missions."

"Nice."

His chocolate milk had almost become cold. It tasted really bad. Harry took a deep breath, drank the last of it, and exhaled. He placed the cup beside him and pulled his knees up.

"I had a dream last night."

Hitsugaya showed nothing in his face that was slightly close to that of interest. The only thing he did was tilt his head a bit, and Harry knew him well enough by now to know that he definitely _was_ listening.

"It was about someone I… well… knew, back in my previous life."

"So? What happened?"

He didn't know. Harry didn't know why he had dreamt about Voldemort. It probably meant nothing, but he had too much experience to just let it go. He remembered the snake that bit Mr. Weasley all too well…

"Ah… not much. I was just thinking about it."

Harry tried to convince Hitsugaya that he wanted to talk about something else by sipping his drink, but he realized a little too late that he had already finished it.

"Yeah… I bet it meant nothing," Hitsugaya said, taking the hint. He yawned. "You know what, I'm off. Thanks for the drink, Potter."

"Hmm? Oh, welcome."

Hitsugaya bowed once and then disappeared on the spot. Harry stifled a yawn and got up. He stretched his limbs and watched over the street. It felt kind of good to be back in Rukongai. It remembered him of Hisana and Rukia.

Maybe he should go visit Rukia again.

He turned around and walked back to the gate that separated Seireitei from Rukongai, letting his mind wander on his time spent with Hisana and Rukia back when there was no one to interfere with their relationship.

It was the first time that day he didn't think of the dream he had last night.


	18. Ripped in several places

**Author's note:** I am sorry. Let's start with that. I am very very sorry for the extremely late update. All reasons for that are rather private so I won't get into details, but trust me if I say I've had things on my mind. But back to the story! Below, first, a short summary of what happened previously, to get you back into it.

Thanks for sticking with Harry for so long!

Thank you, ByakuxHisa4eva, for betareading once again!

* * *

After Hisana's death, Harry and his zanpakutou Keishu started training to attain bankai, which resulted in Harry becoming captain of the twelfth division. Byakuya has adopted Rukia as his sister, and even though Rukia approved (because of Hisana), she is very unhappy.  
In the meantime, Ayasegawa Yumichika and Madarame Ikkaku are not making themselves very popular in their new division, the twelfth. After a messy incident that killed Ishida Souken, they were kicked out and placed in the eleventh, where they were put to hard work by the new captain, Zaraki Kenpachi.  
Besides his life in the Gotei, Harry has to deal with dreams of the past and deal with the idea that his former friend Ichimaru Gin is highly approved by his fellow captains, to become a new member of the captains team.

I hope you'll enjoy this chapter!

* * *

No _way_ was he going to give up now. He had been working on his two-point-six-foot-high stack of paperwork for _three_ days now. If he wouldn't let himself get all distracted (like when he was curious to _just _how high the pile of paperwork was and ended up measuring the thing) he could have finished… two days ago.

_And you calculated that... when exactly?_

"Argh," Harry sighed, annoyed that Keishu had to bust him, "during the time I could have finished five more files…"

_Isn't this what you've got subordinates for?_

"I wish," muttered Harry. He rubbed his eyes and focused back on the words in front of him. He read the same line three times before realizing that it was just the question to put down the file-code for organization. As he scribbled down a couple of numbers, he called out for Hitsugaya.

"What do you want?" Hitsugaya asked, not entering the room further than was necessary. "I'm busy. With paperwork. You know, that stuff you need to fill in, like reports and all?"

Harry didn't even know why he had called out on him. He said the first thing that came to mind. "I'm thirsty."

The distance between Hitsugaya's head and the floor was not long enough to fit the fallen jaw. "Are you _kidding_ me, Potter? I'm on duty, and your sink is only three meters away from you!"

"Uhh..." Harry said, moving his eyes to the wall. "Hey, you're right. Thanks!"

Snarling loudly, Hitsugaya closed the door again. Heaving a deep sigh, Harry stood up and stretched his limbs. Maybe a glass of cold water would clear his mind. Harry didn't even know what was supposed to be cleared; he wasn't really thinking about anything, really.

The cold water in his system did wake him up, a little. Sitting down with fractionally more spirit than a couple of minutes before, Harry took his pen again and bent over his papers once more.

A breeze of air from the open window played with his hair. Harry looked up and felt the cold on his head, deciding it was too cold. Standing up again, he went to close the drapes, but not before he shot a glance outside. He missed the sight of birds flying through the sky, but it was too cold for them, anyway. Harry turned around and walked to the sink again, to let the water stream over his wrists. It felt good.

Trying once more to concentrate on his paperwork, Harry sat down and promised himself not to get distracted again.

He couldn't know that he was going to break his promise in five... four... three... two... one...

A knock on the door made Harry almost scream in annoyance. With his head buried in his hands, he demanded, "_What_?"

"Sorry," a shrill voice said, turning away again. "I'll see you later, then."

Recognizing the voice, Harry jumped up. "Rukia! No, come back in! How are you?"

Stepping into his office, Rukia closed the door behind her back. She then made her way to Harry to give him a big hug. "How are you?"

"Just fine," Harry smiled. He hadn't seen her in ages and he really had the need to catch up with her. Screw the paperwork. Hehe.

Just when he was about to start up a conversation, he saw Rukia staring absentmindedly out of the window. She never looked like this. Her mind seemed to be troubled and she was breathing rather heavily. Then she turned to Harry and sat down on the floor. "I've started my training with Byakuya-nii-sama."

Raising an eyebrow upon hearing her address her brother so formally, Harry asked, "And how do you like it?"

Rukia shrugged. "I don't know... it's... okay, I guess... It'll allow me to enter the thirteenth division and train with Kaien-dono. He's amazing."

"Yet you don't seem too happy about it," Harry noticed.

"Well," Rukia pouted, tilting her head so that she could look out of the window, "I've met a woman… maybe you know her? Shiba Miyako, Kaien-dono's wife?"

Harry nodded. "She's third seat of your division, right?"

"Yeah. She's been sent on a mission to eliminate this… weirdo hollow." Rukia sighed. She leaned heavily against the wall before she bent her knees and made herself slide to the ground. "She hasn't come back yet. I'm worried, I like her. She's nice."

"What kind of mission?" Harry asked bewildered. A third seat is a high rank; if people from fourth seat and up are going to be sent on missions, he, as a captain, should have received a file on it… oh, perhaps the file was somewhere in his pile…

"I told you, a madcap hollow."

"Ah, yes..." Harry said, "My concentration has seen better days."

Rukia shook her head while trying to look away, but Harry knew for sure, he had seen a semblance of a small grin on her face.

---

"So this is the big day, huh?" Harry asked, watching in amusement as Rangiku tried to untie her hair from the twig it had gotten caught in. "Mr. Jolly's becoming captain."

"Don't make too big a deal out of it," Rangiku replied angrily. "He won't keep the position for long."

"Why's tha'?" Gin asked, with a hint of annoyance in his voice. Harry raised his eyebrows on the apparent fire that burnt between his friends.

"Because, big bird, you can't _always_ rely on your irritating, permanent smile and your ugly blue hair."

Lord, be with me, Harry thought. He shook his head and turned away from the scene. Or tried to. He couldn't move an inch or he had Rangiku's shrill voice in his head, screaming, "Yeah just leave me like this! Dump Mr. High and Mighty and _please_ come save my hair!"

Harry turned around and helped the twig out of Rangiku's hair. "Now don't act like that, Rangiku," he started. "Do you really expect our captain commander would make the mistake of recruiting an unsuitable captain?"

"I sure do when he doesn't know the buttface in person," Rangiku grunted, now tending her hair. "I'm off to the tenth. Harry, have I already told you that I'm up for the position of vice-captain?"

"Really?" Harry asked surprised. He knew that the tenth division was about to have a new captain, but he never expected him to ask Rangiku as lieutenant. "Why you?"

"_He likes me hugs_," she said, using her charming puppy-eyes to convince him. "I'll talk to you later, Harry!"

"Wha' 'bout me?" Gin asked, but Rangiku pretended not to hear him when she shunpoed away.

Shaking his head disappointedly, Gin turned to Harry. "Wasn't ya lieutenant goin' to be captain? I heard tha boss mention Hitsugaya Toushiro in tha last meetin'?"

Nodding his head disappointedly, Harry turned to Gin. "Yup. He's qualified and strong. He's very close to achieving bankai and he's loyal to the Gotei 13. If we're missing a captain, the spot of Kurosaki Isshin, Hitsugaya is the one to choose."

Gin nodded. Then he sighed and waved Harry goodbye. "I better take off to tha third, now. See ya, Harry."

"See ya, Gin," Harry replied.

He could see Rangiku walking, far away from him on his left. On his right, Gin's back was slowly moving out of sight; Harry was stuck in the middle and did not know which way to go.

---

There were cute pink unicorns hopping over a graveyard without any graves. Death Eaters were riding them, all carrying Fred and George's pigmy puffs with them. Suddenly, there appeared a golden cage which held Fawkes the Phoenix in it, who had the Sorting hat on his head. The phoenix started to talk loud, in McGonagall's voice, to the puffs and ordered them to hold on tightly to the Death Eaters. The unicorns were given the assignment to jump as high as possible, so that everyone's head would reach cloud nine and there they would celebrate Voldemort's birthday.

Harry was about to murmur 'Happy Birthday' when someone tapped on his shoulder. He jumped up and reached out for his zanpakutou. "Who's there? I'm taking out my wand and I'm experienced with the dark arts!"

"'tha hell are ya talkin' about, dude?" Gin asked bewildered, stepping back defensively. "I just came ta talk to ya!"

"Oh…" Harry said, looking around. The paperwork he'd abandoned was spread out on the floor; he must have blown them off his desk when he jumped up. Had he been sleeping?

"Who's Gildroy Lockheart?" Gin asked curiously, after observing Harry's cheek for a second. "And why does ya face say 'I hate' along with it?"

Rubbing the side of his face with his sleeve, Harry grinned, embarrassed. "Someone I used to know. Not important. Not to me, at least. But you came to talk?"

The air in the room suddenly became a lot less uncomfortable. Gin seemed unsure whether he wanted to talk; Harry, being the nosy person he was, started to push him to talk. "Sit down! Want some tea? Got plenty! What's up?"

Gin sat down, but didn't do much more. He stared out of the window for a second, but then heaved a heavy sigh. "It's capt'n Aizen."

Upon hearing the tone Gin was using, Harry raised his eyebrow. "Captain Aizen? I thought he was your friend?"

"He's ma old captain and we do have a certain connection... but he ain't ma friend!" Gin spat.

"What's with the sudden outburst?" Harry asked, almost shocked. "He almost praised you to heaven when we discussed the agreement of letting you become a fellow captain!"

"Don't start 'bout heaven," Gin said crankily. Then his expression changed. "Ya won't tell anyone, will ya?"

"I don't even really know what you're talking about," Harry said carefully.

Quickly scanning the room, Gin sat up straight and folded his hands. "He's… I think… He has plans."

"Plans?"

"Yes."

Yes. Care to elaborate, Gin?

"Yeah, plans. An' he wants me to join him."

Harry nodded. "I can see that; you know each other well. What kind of plans are you talking about?"

Seconds of silence, before Gin's firm voice said it. "He wants to become God."

It took a few seconds before Harry's mind registered what Gin just told him. But his mind must be deceiving him; he must've misunderstood. "Sorry, could you repeat that, please?"

Gin inhaled deeply, but before he could release another syllable, the door to Harry's office swung open and a messed up Rukia ran into the room, throwing herself on Harry and started sobbing loudly into his shoulder.

"I'll leave ya two alone," Gin said hastily, happy to get away. He walked through the door so fast, Harry was certain he used shunpo in his escape. But that was not really something to think about now. He felt Rukia shaking on his lap. "Hey gorgeous, shush, it's okay, I'm here."

He felt the fabric of his clothing become wetter by the second; Rukia was crying rivers. Harry threw his arms around her body and hugged her closer. Then his eyes noticed her clothes. They were ripped in several places, and the white was stained with blood. There were small twigs in her hair and her socks seemed bogged with mud.

Harry thought he had all the right to assume the worst. "Rukia, what happened? Did someone try to attack you? Did someone actually attack you? Talk to me, girl, please?"

Rukia shook her head. "I… I…"

She cried even harder now. She pulled her legs up and almost crawled further into Harry's safe arms. Harry, now thinking the worst had really happened, didn't know what to do. Did she get raped? Did she escape? If she was, is she really feeling okay in his embrace?

He placed his chin on her head and let her cry. If she felt comfortable enough to be there, he'd let her be there.

"Rukia… hey, it's okay. All is okay."

Rukia shook her head again. "No, 's not okay…"

"What's not okay, Rukia?"

Pushing her face into Harry's chest, she mumbled, "I killed him."

A cold shiver ran down Harry's spine. Killed..? "What are you talking about, Rukia? What happened?"

"Oh god… I killed him…"

Cold from shock, Harry forced her face out of his chest and made her look up to him. "What happed, Rukia? Tell me."

"I can't," she sobbed, looking anywhere but in his eyes. "I'm so sorry! I didn't want to kill him! I never meant to!"

"Rukia, I need you to talk to me. What happened? What are you talking about?"

"Kaien-dono! I killed Kaien-dono!"

Surrendering, Rukia pushed herself off Harry's lap and ran to the wall. She let herself bump into it and then fall down, chafing the skin of her arms and forehead in process. She cried into the wall and pulled her hair in agony.

Harry sat paralyzed in his chair. Kaien, Shiba Kaien, dead? By Rukia's hands? There was no possible way. He stood up; his legs moving on his own. He moved over to Rukia and sat down next to her. Taking her hands into his, Harry pulled her back into his embrace. "Rukia… it's okay… I believe you, I know you'd never hurt anyone on purpose. Come here, it's okay…"

"I didn't mean for it to happen," Rukia sobbed. She allowed Harry to pull her back into his arms. "It was an accident…"

Harry nodded. "I know it was, sweet sweet Rukia. Do you think you can tell me what happened?"

"We went to chase the hollow…" she started. She took a deep breath to try and control her sobs.

"The madcap hollow you were talking about yesterday?"

Rukia nodded to confirm. "He's able to possess shinigami… he'd taken Miyako-dono as a victim…"

She allowed herself to collect her breath again. "Kaien-dono was raging mad... and chased after it... Captain Ukitake and I followed him."

"Yes, I can see that. It was a good idea of you; I'm sure he would be a…"

Suddenly, Harry realized he couldn't just say that Kaien would have been a danger to himself. He had died, nevertheless.

"…I'm sure he appreciated your concern."

"He did, I think… We found the hollow… Kaien-dono wanted to go all alone." Rukia now looked Harry into his eyes, fear written all over her face. "I wanted to help him, I really did! But Captain Ukitake stopped me! Because I'd be killing Kaien-dono's pride if I helped him survive!"

Harry smiled gently. "Ah, yes. The two types of fight, we're all familiar with it."

"It's stupid!" Rukia declared. "If I could have helped and if Captain had helped, Kaien-dono wouldn't have died! But the hollow made Kaien-dono's zanpakutou disappear and then he took control over him!"

"The zanpakutou?"

Rukia shook her head; tears flew from her face onto Harry's. He didn't even care to wipe them off. "The hollow possessed Kaien-dono!"

Harry frowned. "That's terrible, Rukia… I'm so sorry you had to witness all of it…"

"I didn't witness all of it," she said softly. "Captain Ukitake ordered me to leave. I did."

Sighing in relieve, Harry was about to say that there was no way that Rukia could have been involved in Kaien's dead and that she was just following orders by leaving, when Rukia continued. "Then I felt guilty because I knew Captain Ukitake had been ill today. He was ill this morning! I ran back and drew my zanpakutou… then… he… then…"

Harry was almost sure he could fill in the rest. The hollow spotted her, attacked and Rukia defended herself. He frowned even deeper now and let Rukia sob into his shoulder again. He held her closely, until she fell asleep, exhausted, forty-five minutes later.

---

After lifting the sleeping Rukia up in his arms and bringing her to the fourth division to rest and heal from her minimum of injuries, Harry had laid himself onto a couple of chairs in the waiting room. He had his hands under his head and stretched his legs. With his eyes closed, he listened to the background noises.

Unfortunately, he didn't really pay much attention to his surroundings and yelled the moment he felt two fingers poke him hard in his sides. "_Rangiku!_"

"Hi Harry!" Rangiku smiled happily. "Guess what! Look at my badge!"

The drowsiness from his half-slumber made his vision all blurry, but he could make out the shape of the badge tied around her arm very clear. Not much a problem, seeing that she was close enough to push the thing into his nose. "Ah, it was today?"

"Don't give me that dumb look of yours, Potter!" she pouted. "You knew it was today!"

"I did, yeah," Harry said, rubbing his neck. "I forgot, sorry."

Rangiku raised her eyebrows. "You forgot? What's wrong with you, Harry?"

"Something came in between," Harry explained, pushing himself up into sitting position. "I'm sorry I wasn't there."

Sitting down next to him, Rangiku threw her arms together. "Somebody better died for you not to have come to the ceremony!"

"Lieutenant Shiba Kaien."

"Huh?"

Harry closed his eyes before repeating. "Kaien died."

He turned his head so that he could look to Rangiku's expression. She was shocked, he could tell. "How… but how?"

"Accident. Raging hollow. Your captain will tell you."

Rangiku nodded. "Captain Hitsugaya… I will ask him. Great start of new careers, no?"

Harry smiled vaguely. "Yeah. Kind of."

"Your sister must be really upset about it as well! I heard lieutenant Shiba and she were very close."

"Yeah." Harry folded his fingers. "Don't mention it to her. She's upset enough."

Rangiku nodded slowly. "Hey, I should be going. I don't want to bother you with much more right now."

"What's up?"

But Rangiku just raised her shoulders and then waved. "It's nothing that you don't know already. Gin's weird behavior. He's really bugging me now. Stupid Elmo."

Harry forced a smile on his face as he waved back. Gin's weird behavior, huh. Yeah, he really _has_ been acting weird lately. He's sort of developed a God-complex.

Suddenly, Gin's words raced through Harry's mind again. _"He wants to become God."_ Who had he been talking about, again? Was it Aizen?

Yes, it had been Aizen Gin was talking about earlier that afternoon. Aizen had plans to become God and he wanted Gin's cooperation. Although Gin denied any sort of friendship with the man altogether, Harry could see that he didn't have much of a choice. But becoming God… why would someone become a god? Did he want people to worship him? Aizen had many people admiring his kindness and strength already; what more could he want?

While overthinking the conversation, Harry slowly came to realize that Gin must have known more details about the plan and apparently feared those details. Otherwise he couldn't have been that direct yet distant with Harry, right?

Becoming God was not a good idea. A shinigami is the closest thing you could be to a god, as you were a god of death. Why _the_ God? What was more special about _the_ God than a death god?

Harry checked on Rukia through a small window in the door; she was still sleepy deeply. Turning on his heels, Harry sprinted out of the fourth division's quarters and shunpoed his way over to Gin.

He had to know the details.

---

"Gin…"

The door slowly slid open and Gin's face peered out from behind the small opening. "Harry-san, what 'r ya doing here?"

Almost slapping his hand on the door, Harry forced it wider open so he could enter the room. They were just with the two of them, so there was no excuse to rush out this time.

"Tell me about Aizen."

To his biggest surprise, Gin started to smile his broad smile. "Capt'n Aizen? If you are talking about the little chat we had this afternoon, I'm sorry, I was mistaken then. He'd been to a ceremony in Rukongai an' wanted me to come wit' him once."

"Don't fool me, Gin," Harry replied angrily. "If you're lying to me right now, Soul Society could be in grave danger. I trust you know that."

The smile grew. "I don't know wha' ya talkin' 'bout, Harry-san. Sorry I can't be of more help!"

He started to close the distance between them, trying to push Harry back out of the room. Harry, though, refused to accept this; he grabbed Gin's wrist and twisted it around. "Gin, either you start talking to me, or I'll start talking to Aizen. If you really misunderstood him the other time, I'm sure he won't mind you telling me. But, if you are _not_ mistaken…" he continued, his glasses only inches away from Gin's face, ready to start a fight if necessary, "he will punish you for betraying his trust."

He saw the color drain from Gin's already pale face. The smile faltered, he even seemed scared. But he composed himself quite fast; the smile came back, but the color didn't. "I'm really sorry, Harry-san."

"Do you know who you can hurt with retreating right now?" Harry yelled at him. "Think about your subordinates, your friends, your colleagues… think about Rangiku! She hates you already for your overconfidence, and I know you don't ever want to lose her friendship and you are certainly wrecking it right now. So _talk to me_, Gin. I _promise_ I'll go see Aizen if you tell me _one more time_ that you were mistaken."

"Oke, oke, I'll talk? Gee man, calm ya self!"

Harry slowly let go of Gin's wrist and took a deep breath to calm the anger he felt raging inside. The two shinigami sat down on the tatami mats opposite each other, an awkward atmosphere surrounding them now that neither of them really knew what to do.

Figuring out that he would probably have to initiate the conversation, Harry started. "You said Aizen wants to become God."

"Not so loud, would ya please?" Gin said, gesturing that Harry should keep his voice down. "Ya don't know who could be listening."

Harry repeated his sentence, now more like a whisper.

"Yeah," Gin said. His voice still hesitated. "Oke... you know wha' ma biggest problem is? I don't know if he'll do anythin' to anyone if I don't join him. Take Rangiku-chan. He knows we, well, used to be close an' all so he might hurt her."

"Then we'll protect her," Harry said determent. But Gin shook his head, almost defeated. "Can't. Ya don't know Aizen's powers."

"We'll pay closer attention, okay?" Harry said. "We'll check up on her every day and we'll also keep a close eye on Aizen."

Gin nodded, paler now than ever. "I don't know much specifics of tha plan… but he did once mention Urahara Kisuke. Wasn't he ya old mentor?"

Surprised, Harry nodded. "What would Aizen want with Urahara?"

"Dunno," Gin answered. "Maybe he'll tell me once."

And both Harry and Gin remained quiet now.

They remained quiet for the next few years, only talking about updates on Rangiku and discussing matters of captains meetings.

They remained quiet for the next few years.


	19. He stepped out

**A/N:**Here's another update for you all! I'd like to thank **LostGryffindorFoundSlytherin **for betareading this chapter. Thanks a lot!

* * *

In these four years, the word had spread that captain Harry Potter was not going to get himself a new vice-captain yet. No surprise that his fellow-captains did not approve of this: he was known as the weakling captain and some of them still didn't get even _why_ he was appointed in first place. But when they approached him, asking why he, out of all people, didn't think he needed back-up, Harry simply answered, "My division runs smoothly, my subordinates help me with everything around. It works for me."

It was true; Harry did not feel like having to pick a vice-captain yet. If the right person came along, he'd consider it, but now, it was just fine the way things were.

Harry had a special, personal anniversary to celebrate. Or to mourn; Harry did not quite know how to call it. This year, it would be his fifteenth year in Soul Society. Ever since he realized that, he had been haunted by memories returning to him, and fantasies washing over him. He still never found out about Ron and Hermione, but he did know that if they were still alive, they would have turned thirty this year. Smiling to himself, he was wondering what they would look like these days. Would Hermione still have her brown, bushy long hair? And did Ron take his childish facial structure with him into adulthood?

Rukia had been training on herself ever since the Kaien-incident. Sometimes she was accompanied by her brother, who would criticize her swordsmanship and push her shunpo-skills. Rukia had lost very much of her confidence, yet tried to mask this in front of her brother by showing him respect, listening to his advice and pushing herself to her limits in training. Once, Harry tried to talk to Byakuya, to tell him that Rukia was going to lose it if he kept on ignoring their bond as brother-and-sister, while he acted like her captain. Which he was not, Harry added furiously, because Ukitake was.

Knowing that Byakuya would never listen to him, Harry tried his luck with someone else. He had never really spoken to Ukitake Jyushirou, captain of the thirteenth division, in private, but once would have to be the first time, no?

Together, they had come to the conclusion to send Rukia out on a mission, protecting a small-ranged area in the material world. She could gain more and new experience and it would be a complete different kind of training. However, when Harry asked who she could fall back on if she needed something, Ukitake just smiled and told him that that would be no problem at all; an old familiar face was active in the area he had in mind.

After having been through most of the details, Harry went looking for Rukia. She wasn't in her room of the enormous Kuchiki-mansion, and according to one of the servants, she hadn't been home since that morning. Maybe she went visiting the orphanage she grew up in after Hisana got married and Harry attained the academy.

When he was about to knock on the door in the first district of Rukongai, Harry sensed a reiatsu he hadn't felt in quite a while. He remembered it from years ago in Rukongai; but he never found out whom it belonged to and he had given up searching for it. But along with this, he recognized Rukia's reiatsu.

He hurried to where he had sensed her, and found her standing in front of the weirdest shaped house he'd ever seen. From the ground rose two large, concrete arms and huge hands. These held a banner, which said 'Shiba residence'. Rukia stood on the grass, her hand resting against a tree, trying to see the house without being seen herself.

"Hey," Harry said carefully, trying not to surprise her. "What are you doing here?"

Rukia did not immediately respond to hearing his voice, yet she heaved a very heavy sigh. She then turned her head a bit and said, "One day… I will have collected all guts I need to talk to his family."

"Who's?"

Smiling gently, Rukia bow down to pick a flower. She then let it fly in the wind, towards the house. "It's Kaien-dono's family house."

Noting the sudden softness in her voice, Harry realized Rukia still felt responsible and guilty for Kaien's death. Trying to distract her, he pat her shoulder. "Hey, come on, come with me. I've got news for you."

Rukia obliged. She and Harry raced each other using shunpo, to be the first to arrive at the barracks of the twelfth. Harry won, leaving Rukia to arrive at least a minute later. He let her into the division and told her to wait for him in his office. Rukia obliged, huffing still from the match.

After fetching two cups of water, Harry went to his own office as well. Rukia had seated herself on Harry's luxury chair, grinning up at him, gesturing him to sit on either the floor or the very questionable chair. Harry chose the first after offering Rukia her water.

"So," Rukia started. "What's up?"

Harry decided to get straight to the point. "We have found a very suitable mission for you."

As suspected, Rukia's jaw fell wide open. "But I'm not even ready! I couldn't be a seated officer in my division, or I would have been so! Our division has too little crew to be fully protected, and-"

Cutting her off, Harry scolded at her. "Never say such things to people from out of your own division. If I would have plans to overpower Seireitei, now I would know to attack the thirteenth first."

"I can trust you," Rukia shrugged. "Anyway, there's nowhere I could go. I'm not capable as a shinigami, wherever you put me."

Harry shook his head. "Your captain, Ukitake, and I have chosen a small town in the material world for you to roam. It has a two kilometers-radius and all you have to do is protect the city from hollows and to guide the plusses to Soul Society."

Rukia pouted. "I'd be all alone, wouldn't I? I don't think I'm ready…"

"Well, you're not entirely alone," Harry said. "There's a -I guess- send off shinigami in the city who you can always go to. For supplies and advice, or really anything you need."

"Who is it?"

Harry had to admit that he still didn't know. "You'll find out soon enough. He'll contact you."

Rukia nodded and bow her head towards Harry. "Thank you for this opportunity," she said.

Only three weeks later, when Rukia had been in the town called Karakura for two weeks, Harry was worried sick about her. They received nothing but very odd reports about her area and Rukia herself had even disappeared. Even though he had suggested several times that he should go there and look for her, his idea had been denied for three times now.

However, when even Rukia's childhood friend Abarai Renji, who had just been appointed as Kuchiki Byakuya's vice-captain, told them that Rukia would never disobey her orders, but stick to the protocol of contacting at least once a day and reporting any further events she would witness.

There were reports in which more people were found who possessed a higher amount of reiatsu than average. The weird reports also contained stories of used hollow-bait, which attracted tons of hollow to the area from around the where the bait was put. He even once read a file which told him about an attack of a menos grande, which was forced back into Hueco Mundo not long after it had arrived in the material world.

But these were reports of no value compared to the very first one. It said that Rukia had transported all of her spiritual pressure into a human boy, who had both cut down half of the hollows attracted to the bait, but who had also got rid of the menos grande. The boy, who had been an unregistered substitute shinigami for only less than two months, had achieved something that most shinigami would not achieve in after a lifetime of training.

They still hadn't found any trace of her by the time Rukia had been away for two months and Harry now decided to try his luck by the captain commander. He knew he could find Rukia; he had added one plus one and apparently, the outcome had been Urahara. Shinigami don't retire; Urahara had been banished from Seireitei and must have found himself a place to live in the material world. He must have come to Rukia's aid when she had lost all of her power to that boy Harry had read about. Then he remembered something he had heard years ago:

_"Sometimes you need privacy from even the Soul Society, but they can never guarantee you that because gigais are easily traced. This, Harry-san, is an untraceable gigai."_

Had Urahara had been so insane that he had given Rukia this special gigai? But no, not ever Urahara could be that stupid. Could he?

When he arrived at the first division, Harry was met with quite a surprise: Kuchiki Byakuya, asking for the same favor that Harry was going to ask. To bring back Rukia to Seireitei.

"I honor your question, captain Kuchiki," the captain commander said. "Kuchiki Rukia has committed a crime and she must be punished for this. I trust you to bring her back."

"Yes, sir." Byakuya bow.

"Hey, wait just a second," Harry interrupted. "Let me come as well."

"Out of the question," Yamamoto bellowed immediately. "Two captains on a mission to find a mere non-seated officer?"

"Please listen to my motives, captain," Harry said, while his mind was working hard on how he could say this properly. "I think I know I can find her. At least I know where to start."

Byakuya raised an eyebrow. "That is quite the knowledge, Potter. With the captain commander having approved of my departure already, why don't you share this wisdom with me?"

Harry gritted his teeth. "Just because. I can't explain, and I'm not sure. It's a hunch, but I'm quite sure."

Byakuya closed his eyes. "I take back what I said. I do not want to hear anything from a man who is not sure, yet is very sure. Captain commander, please allow me to leave."

The captain of the first division nodded, and just when Byakuya was to leave the room, Harry spun around and yelled, "Ask Urahara."

"How," Yamamoto said, after seconds of silence, "do you know where Urahara is now?"

Harry answered with a snarl. "Because, unlike some other brainwashed captain in this room, I managed to use my head myself. One plus one is Urahara. Let me go."

Byakuya was about to mock Harry, when Yamamoto cut him off. "Fine then. You will both go. But if you have not found her within the time limit of six hours, captain Potter, you will return to Seireitei and you will not object against anything we have in store for Kuchiki Rukia."

"I think _somebody_ should," Harry said, mostly to himself, eyeing Byakuya. Then, in a clearer voice, he said, "Thank you, captain. I will not disappoint you."

"I am sorry you never said such thing to me, Potter," Byakuya said, his expression hard as stone now that he lost his battle. "It would have spared me the effort to -"

"Oh cut it out, Kuchiki," Harry said, walking towards the exit door. "Now you're going to say something about that I'm already some monkey of dirt and some sort of weird grab-a-moon-story, but hey, I've got my sister to care about. Maybe you should realize the same thing."

Leaving a baffled Byakuya behind, Harry shut the door with a big grin on his face.

Score: One to zero.

Harry did not even care to wait for Byakuya. He left through the gates that led from Seireitei to the material world, and while getting annoyed by the butterfly dancing around his head, he stepped out in a park. He recognized it from pictures in reports he had seen; this is where that menos grande had appeared and also disappeared.

This was the first time in fifteen years that he had been back into the human world. It may not have been his own area or country even, but he felt a sting of home, nonetheless. He sniffed in the fresh air - it was as fresh as in Seireitei, yet right now, he smelled the scent of freshly mowed grass, something he hadn't smelled in, he smiled to himself, fifteen years.

He stood still and put his feet firmly on the ground. Closing his eyes, Harry felt for any trace of reiatsu in the area around him. If he could feel Rukia's, he would be very happy to bring her back, not noticing Byakuya about this, of course, and make sure she won't be put to prison for too long. That was his ultimate idea; yet Harry found a slight hope inside to feel Urahara's. He wished he could just see his old mentor again, to ask him questions, get some update, perhaps kill him for troubling Rukia so..

Stay focused, Harry told himself. Stay focused and feel for Rukia. There were tons of reiatsu to search through, but Harry was prepared for this; one of the reports told them about the high amount of spiritual pressure in the city. He felt a lot; he recognized some of them; one, he was sure of, he had even felt in Rukongai, years earlier.

But right then, right there, he felt it. Not Rukia's; Urahara's. Double emotions of hatred and comfortable familiarity welled up inside of Harry's chest as he desperately clung onto the feeling of this reiatsu; he had to follow it.

Using shunpo to move faster, Harry sped to a small merchandising store, where two children were sweeping the path. They did not seem to be disturbed by Harry's appearance. First, Harry thought that was obvious; they were human children, they would not be able to see him. Until the young girl started to speak. "The manager is in, but I don't think you can see him now."

Pretty sure the girl was addressing him, Harry asked carefully, "The manager?"

"Urahara Kisuke," the boy said. "If you have an appointment, tough luck. He doesn't work with that."

Hearing the name was all Harry needed to confirm his suspicions. Ignoring the children further, he thrust the door open and ran in. Taking a deep breath and putting his chest up front, he roared, "Urahara!" through the entire -pretty small- building.

"Yeah, yeah, one moment," came the way too familiar voice from behind a couple of boxes. "Be right with you! Please make yourself comfortable!"

"Comfortable, my ass!" Harry cried out. He ran over to the boxes and kicked them away. "Urahara!"

"My, my, what temper again, Kurosaki-ku~"

Grey blue eyes met sharp green eyes.

"Did you start using lenses, Ichigo-sa~"

Grey blue eyes met round glasses and a lightening shaped scar.

"Hee, Ichigo-san, where did you.."

Grey blue eyes met a fierce fist.

"Idiot, it's me," Harry snarled. "Who the hell is this Ichigo you're talking about?"

"Who are you?" Urahara said, rubbing his face. When he was able to see properly again, he looked Harry up and down. "You look very much familiar… certainly not Ichigo-san… He! I remember now! Harry-san!"

"You're an idiot, you know that?" Harry said, calming down a bit now that Urahara finally recognized him. "No time for a reunion, though. I know you know where Rukia is. Tell me so I can get to her before that mental head gets to her."

"Mental head?" Urahara said, scratching his head. "Oh, my my, Harry-san, is that a captain's haori? You have never ceased to amaze me!"

"I have no time for this, Urahara," Harry repeated. "I need to find Rukia."

"Kuchiki-san, heh.. why would I tell you?"

"Because if I find her and bring her back, I will be there myself to oversee her punishment and she will be put in prison for only days or weeks. If that macaroni-head Kuchiki finds her, he will scold her or even ignore her, and to Rukia, that's even worse than jail."

Urahara sat quietly for a few seconds. Then he raised his hand. "So it's social reasons only?"

"Just give me her location already!" Harry bellowed. "Listen, I know we have a lot to talk about and haha-jokes to make and everything, but I'm kind of in a hurry here. I only got three hours to find her."

This, of course, was a lie. But Harry knew his old mentor quite well and he was afraid that Urahara would only cave in after the appointed time-limit, which Harry did not want to happen. He allowed himself three hours of search for himself, without the man's help.

"Just please," Harry now begged, after having successfully cooled down his hot head. "Please tell me where Rukia is."

Sticking his old and almost infamous smile upon his face, Urahara straightened his sleeves and then stood up. "I believe that milady Kuchiki is in the Kurosaki-clinic. It's eleven blocks away from here, but I'm sure you'll be able to find it. If she's not there, I do not know where she is. However, just stay on location in case she returns."

"Kurosaki?" Harry repeated. "Kurosaki Isshin? So if I find him, I find Rukia?"

"Sure does!" Urahara laughed. "But be up for a lot of trouble, Harry-san. Kuchiki Rukia is very well taken care of and the substitute shinigami will not let her depart easily!"

"That shouldn't be a problem," Harry said. He quickly bow before Urahara, muffled a 'thank you' and turned round. "Bye now, Urahara Kisuke. I'm sure we'll meet again."

"I'm sure," Urahara agreed. "It's our fate."

"It's my curse," Harry mumbled while leaving the shop. "Oh, why can't you be just a little more responsible, Urahara?"


	20. Yes, we can

**A/n:**** Heya! I know it's been ages, so sorry about that. It's just that I am no longer motivated at all to continue and I've grown tired of this story. I _do_ want to finish it, though, so maybe that's a plus for you guys out there. Well, at least there's another update and it's a bit shorter than most chapters, but I hope the content will compensate for it.**

**Please enjoy!**

_(Pssst, remember what happened last? Both Harry and Byakuya were sent to the world of the living to return Rukia. And out of all people Harry could have seen again, it was Urahara whom he bumped into.)_

**

* * *

**

Exerting his shunpo-skills to their top-level, Harry quickly made his way towards the Kurosaki-resident. After hearing the name, finding Isshin's reiatsu was almost too easy. It wasn't the way he remembered it to be, but that was probably the magic and the mystery behind 'memory' altogether.

However, when Harry arrived, it was not Isshin he ran into. It was Rukia.

She was standing with her back towards him, talking to someone who stood in the dark. She wore human clothes and had a backpack standing on the ground next to her feet. Rukia's reiatsu was nowhere to be found; she really must be wearing the dreadful untraceable gigai. Harry did recognize the reiatsu of the someone in the dark; it turned out that Byakuya had outrun him and had found Rukia first.

As Byakuya used his I-will-make-you-feel-very-guiltily low and harsh voice, Harry did not receive the entire lecture he gave Rukia. However, he was able to make out the words 'irresponsible', 'punishment' and 'disgraceful', as Byakuya seemingly enjoyed emphasizing those words.

Rukia stood with one hand holding her other arm; her shoulders pulled up and her knees shaped like and X. In funnier situations, Harry would assume that she really needed to pee, but he knew that she was being tormented by shame.

"Cut it out, Kuchiki," Harry said. He saw Rukia jump from surprise, yet she did not dare move away from the strict gaze of her brother. "She knows she's crossed laws, do you really have to push it so?"

"These are matters you would never be able to understand, Potter," Byakuya answered coolly. "Rukia, come with me. You will await your sentence in prison."

With great horror, Harry could see Rukia prepare for a bow; in his mind, he already heard her reply of obedience. Stepping with large paces, he reached her to grab her arms before she could do either to please her brother. "Stop right there."

Her large eyes pierced scared through Harry's soul. Was she that committed to her brother, after all the pain he had caused her? It couldn't be. But perhaps her longing to be accepted by her brother was strong enough to make her do anything he'd want from her. She had struggled in cold and pain until the early hours if he was dissatisfied with their training. She had sacrificed her friendships with most of the people she knew from the orphanage she grew up in, to spend more time learning etiquettes and training her swordsmanship and kidou even more.

"She will come to Seireitei with me." Byakuya stepped forward. "She will be put in Thirteenth Division's jail and she will accept any sentence that awaits her. We will take our leave, Rukia."

Harry was outraged. He reached out for his zanpakutou, ready to fight Byakuya for Rukia's sake, but he stopped the moment a fourth reiatsu entered the scene.

It was one he had never felt before. It felt somehow familiar, yet it did not fit any face in Harry's memory. It was a strong reiatsu; it could have easily belonged to a sixth seat, perhaps even a fourth seat. After becoming captain, Harry had learned most of the seated officers from Seireitei by name; it could come in handy once; yet it did not now.

To any normal person, Byakuya wouldn't look bothered. However, he and Harry shared pain together and Harry had been able to dismantle Byakuya's demeanor and Harry noticed the surprise in the noble's eyes all too well. Byakuya did not recognize the reiatsu, either.

Spinning around, Harry suddenly stood face to face with a young man. If his scowl wasn't scary enough yet, his zanpakutou certainly was. For regular standards, Harry had not been in Soul Society for long; only fifteen years. But whatever he had yet to experience and learn, Harry knew that no zanpakutou in normal form would be this large. Would it be in shikai-state already?

Certainly not, Harry concluded, as he noticed the large scabbard in which the sword would fit perfectly. Scabbards did not adjust to shikai.

In the corner of his eye, Harry could see Byakuya turn away and pulling Rukia with him with no more than a glance of his eye. He took his Senbonzakura and placed it to open the gate back to Seireitei. Obviously, he found no treat in the boy.

"Oy," the young man said. His voice was strong, yet younger than Harry had expected. "Did you really expect that I would allow you to take her away like that?"

"Ichigo…" came Rukia's defeated voice. It was the first time Harry heard it this evening and he was shocked by the lack of power behind it. What had happened to his strong girl? "Ichigo, please…"

"Shut it! _Now_ she's talking!" the man named Ichigo roared. "But you weren't in a state to tell us, oh I don't know, that you were leaving?"

"Please. you can't -"

"Hold your gums!" Ichigo interrupted Rukia's plead. "What are we to you that you leave us a note we must burn that tells us to hide? Are you freakin' outta you mind?"

Harry could not help but to chuckle. "You did that, Rukia? I expected something more classy from you."

Rukia did not talk more. She bow her head and so adjusted her entire being to a defeat even further.

"Damnit, Rukia, do you have any idea how freakin' lame you look right now?"

Choosing to ignore him now, Rukia took one step forward. Then, things went very quickly.

Byakuya had finally opened the gate to Seireitei. Ichigo, however, used his overly large zanpakutou to cut through it and so it disappeared again. Harry shunpoed to Rukia and pulled her back from it; however, he hadn't stepped back or Ichigo had claimed Rukia for himself.

She was now pushed back behind Ichigo's body and desperately trying to break from his grip, trying not to embarrass her brother even more. The confident grin on Ichigo's face triggered a memory on Harry's mind; suddenly, he recognized the boy. It was years ago, when Isshin was still part of Seireitei; his last days there, he showed Harry a picture of his family. A boy with the brightest of orange hair had smiled up at him.

His grin was similar to his smile; his hair color hadn't changed a bit.

"Oh bloody hell," Harry breathed to himself. "That's Isshin's son!"

Harry had no time to recover from this discovery when he recognized another reiatsu. This many strong reiatsu would certainly cause trouble; they had to leave before hollows would appear in huge groups.

"Let's settle this elsewhere, okay?" Harry said, now opening the gate himself. The others didn't cave, though, so Harry pointed at Rukia. "You're the key here; come with us, let that Ichigo be your guardian angel for all I care, I want to question him, anyway. Kuchiki, you too, chop chop."

Stunned, three pair of eyes gazed in his direction. Harry could not care less, though, especially not after tracking the fifth reiatsu and noting it was getting closer in a very fast rate.

Determent, Harry stepped towards Byakuya and pushed him towards the gate. Rukia widened her eyes at this, which was an expected response to Harry. The girl stepped away from Ichigo's protective stand and walked obediently towards her brother's side. Ichigo followed, not trusting the two men at all.

"You cannot truly believe you are allowed into Sei~" Byakuya started, but Harry interrupted. "Yes, we can take him into Seireitei. Yes, we can."

Ignoring any further protests coming from Byakuya, Harry took Rukia by her hand and gently pulled her into the gate. There was a little problem with Ichigo's arrival, seeing that he had no accompanying hell butterfly and Byakuya tried to leave him behind once more by saying that he was unable to cross the boundaries because he wasn't fully shinigami, it worked when Harry arranged another hell butterfly.

Score: 2-0.

* * *

"We put the boy under custody from sixth division," Harry sighed to Gin. They sat together against a wall on the streets of Seireitei. They attracted weird glances from random pedestrians on their way home; but why would either of the captains bother caring?

"Really now?" Gin asked, looking rather out of place. He had avoided most contact with Harry since their uber-vague Aizen-conversation, but today, Harry had literally pulled him outside by his hairs. His head ached from it; but he had to just deal with it. Harry sure was tough. But then again, his hair wasn't roughly pulled out.

"Yeah, hmhm, really now." Harry shifted to a more comfortable position. "He didn't want to listen to anybody until we would tell him where Rukia was and whether she was okay; it was Byakuya out of all people to tell him that she was imprisoned and he also told him she would be sentenced.."

"Sentenced?" Gin raised an eyebrow. "Why would ya say such a cruel thing, Harry-san? Worst case she's stripped from her powers, no?"

Harry frowned at him. "You were there when they announced her punishment, Gin. You know she might get sentenced to death."

"And ya gonna let tha' happen?"

"I'm searching through tons of books," Harry answered, sighing desperately. "Trying to find a loophole."

"Life threatening situation?"

"No," Harry shook his head. "Even in such situations, a shinigami is not allowed to just _give _their powers to a human. Not even partial."

"Mental illness?"

"Rukia's not mental," Harry scolded.

"I'd go mental livin' in a house with Kuchiki…" Gin said. "Ne, listen, I gotta go. I'm tired and goin' to get some sleep."

"Bye Gin," Harry said. "Talk to you later.."

* * *

"Hi Harry-san!"

It was thirty minutes later and Harry had finally decided to work on his piling-up paperwork to get some distraction, when a voice startled him. The sound was very familiar and Harry was very certain he was never going to hear it in a place like Seireitei again.

"Urahara!"

In the opening of the door, stood Urahara Kisuke, being accompanied by Shihouin Yoruichi, whom Harry had not seen since the two were banished from Seireitei. To see them both in the twelfth division truly was an odd feeling.

"What are the two of you doing here?" Harry asked. He knew his old mentor and he grew curious to why Urahara would risk this visit.

"We're going to capture your little girl back," Urahara explained surprised, as if Harry was stupid for not knowing. "I don't think her imprisonment was quite fair."

There was no way that Harry would allow these two to interfere with Rukia. It would only make her problems worse and that would not even be her fault. "You're outlaws," Harry said, locating his hands on his desk and pushing himself up. "You're illegal here. I should turn you in."

Yoruichi smiled. "You cannot capture us both, dear dear Harry. Your friend Ichimaru tried so already."

"Gin?" Harry raised his eyebrow. "He was here only half an hour ago."

"And he'll be in fourth in less than two minutes!" Urahara predicted, counting his fingers. "He was no match at all."

Harry shook his head. Gin was a very talented fighter and a strong captain; he could never have lost to them that quickly. But then again, Harry corrected himself, both Urahara and Yoruichi were truly terrifying strong themselves.

"What are your plans with Rukia?" Harry wanted to know, pushing the thought of Gin aside. "Why are you telling me this?"

Urahara shifted on his feet and took out his fan. "What's with the paranoia, Harry-san? Don't you trust us?"

"The _hell_ I don't!" Harry bellowed. "Answer me, Urahara."

"It's simple," Urahara said. "I just want to return what's mine."

With that, both him and Yoruichi turned around and walked away before Harry could even respond.

With his mind spinning around and roaring mighty from inside, Harry hurried to the fourth division. He spoke to a caretaker and informed to Gin, who was said to lay in room seven of hallway three. Harry walked there in a quick pace and saw Gin, not majorly injured, sitting on his bed, being tend to by third seat Iemura. It seemed only his right arm was cut and he had a couple of bruises on his jaws.

"Looking good, Gin," Harry said. "Would you give us a minute, please?"

Iemura bow irritated and left, murmuring something about doing the bandaging themselves. Paying no further attention to him, Harry focused on Gin. "What happened?"

Gin looked up and raised his shoulders. "I was just walkin' and then outta nowhere I felt abou' eleven feet hit ma face and when I went to attack, ma arm was cut so I couldn' draw ma zanpakutou."

"Do you have any idea who did it?" Harry insisted. If Gin knew, he would surely make a commotion of it. But Gin said he didn't. "They left before I could open ma eyes again."

Harry was not sure if this was a good sign, but as long as he didn't know, he thought it was.

"We'll find them," Harry assured Gin. "Now, there's something else I want to ask."

"Sure."

Harry took a deep breath and looked Gin directly into his eyes. "Tell me about Aizen."

All color drained from Gin's face. "Capt'n Aizen? Whaddaya want from him?"

"No Gin," Harry said, "I want to hear it from you."

"Nothin's wrong wi' him," Gin said, his lips forming a straight line. "Please leave now so I can rest."

He could already see the lost case, and so Harry bade Gin goodbye and left the room again. The only thing he had learned from this conversation, was that Aizen still had some weird control over Gin.

The moment he stepped outside, he felt Ichigo's reiatsu soaring through the air. Quickly, Harry sped up with him somewhere near the sixth division. A hole was blasted into the wall and several shinigami lay unconsciously on the floor. Ichigo carried a way too large zanpakutou with him, which looked badly damaged from people defending themselves.

"What do you think you're doing?" Harry yelled to him. "You were to keep sil~"

"Silent my ass!" Ichigo protested. "I came here to protect Rukia and then you won't let me near her! It's time I took this into own hands!"

Harry saw the danger that was creeping up and reached for Keishu. "I don't want to fight you, but I can tell you that Rukia is well taken care of!"

He should have known that was not going to change anything. The man was a stubborn as his father.

Ichigo had grabbed his zanpakutou with two hands and now ran towards Harry, who went to block the first blow. It was then that Hitsugaya and Hinamori stormed by them and stopped when they saw the captain of the twelfth division. Hitsugaya held onto Hinamori, who apparently too weak to support her own weight.

"Potter! Emergency state has been released! Captain Aizen was killed. Everyone is to get to the first division this second!"

He then ran away with Hinamori on his back, while Harry stared back at Ichigo.

He could see the fire burning in his eyes.


	21. Combined powers

_**Previously on WHWTO:**_

_Determent, Harry stepped towards Byakuya and pushed him towards the gate. Ichigo followed, not trusting the two men at all. _

* * *

_"Sentenced?" Gin raised an eyebrow. " Worst case she's stripped from her powers, no?"_

_Harry frowned at him. "You were there, Gin. You know Rukia's sentenced to death."_

* * *

_In the opening of the door stood Urahara Kisuke, being accompanied by Shihouin Yoruichi._

_"What are the two of you doing here?" Harry asked curiously. _

_"We're going to capture your little girl back," Urahara explained._

* * *

_Harry looked Gin directly into his eyes. "Tell me about Aizen."_

_All color drained from Gin's face. "Nothin's wrong wi' him," He said, his lips forming a straight line._

* * *

_"Potter! Emergency state has been released! Captain Aizen has been killed. Everyone is to get to the first division this second!"_

_**21. Combined powers**_

"I can't let you go just like that."

Starting a conversation with Ichigo was hopeless in Harry's mind; he knew that. However, every bit of time he could stretch was a given. The longer he could delay Ichigo, the longer he had to think things through.

Aizen dead?

However, he wasn't really paying attention; before he knew it, Ichigo had taken a hike and was speeding up to the center of Seireitei. And actually, Harry did not feel like chasing after him. He had other things to take care of, and all Harry and Ichigo really wanted was for Rukia to be set free. What other harm could that man do?

Kill a fellow captain? No way, decided Harry resolutely. Ichigo was a determent man, but fighting to death was not his favorite options. Best not to linger on this too long, Harry thought.

So with all the strength he had left in him, Harry shunpoed around the area, looking for signs of Urahara and Yoruichi. He needed to talk to them desperately; he wanted to know more about the thing they needed to reclaim and what they would do with Rukia when they had got it back.

Harry passed several buildings and barracks and jumpy officers on his way. He went through gardens of houses, stopped at squares to feel for reiatsu, but did not make much process.

Passing a storage, he suddenly felt a hand covering his mouth and two hands grabbing his waist, pulling him into the building. Surprised as he was, Harry's mind quickly went over the most effective spells he could think of, realizing too late that, no matter how good he was as a captain, they would not work. You'd think he'd realize that sooner after some serious injuries in battle because of his wrong-chosen battle styles.

"Let go of me!" Harry yelled.

"Happy to," Urahara said, grinning up at him. Yoruichi pulled back her hand from Harry's face and wiped it to his shirt. "Now, hear me out. I've been in contact with some old friends of you, who, by the way, were very pleased and surprised to hear you were doing just fine. They asked if ~"

"HOLD ON JUST ONE SECOND," Harry interrupted. "What are you talking about? I haven't even had the chance to catch my breath."

The answer he got was a smack on his head. "Breath while listening. Men can do at least those two things at one time," Yoruichi said.

"Thank you," thanked Urahara with a slight bow. "Now, listen up. Apparently, your favorite snake-buddy hasn't coped with your dead yet. The moment I heard they wanted to see you again, I started developing these bracelets -aren't they fashionable? Yoruichi-san did the designs!- which can disrupt the portal to the material world and makes you end up in any wanted area. Now, any questions?"

"Tons of them!" Harry's head was spinning. "Is either one of you responsible for Aizen's dead? Who hasn't coped with whose death and who did you talk to? What does this have to do with Rukia? And why oh why do those bracelets have big eyed-kittens on them?"

"Okay, okay," Urahara said, shushing Harry and urging him to sit down. "Let's start with the most important of those questions. Like I said, Yoruichi-san designed them. Now, I wanted red colors, you know, because of Benihime, but then here _she_ wanted the blue ones, because of the sky and stuff, so we decided on green and yellow, for~"

"I think we need to work on your priorities," Harry gnarled.

"Let me take this, Kisuke," Yoruichi said, sitting in front of him and hereby blocking him from Harry's view.

"No, we did not kill Aizen. We are trying to find out whatever we can, but we've got other things to care about. Now, see here. For testing out these bracelets to get to other places, we figured that the safest way to get to the material world, was through a portal that had not yet been confirmed to exist by the Twelfth division. However, once we found this limbo, our test results showed that this portal already had been used one time before. By a man whose reiatsu started developing in that very limbo. You with me so far?"

Harry nodded.

"Good boy," continued Yoruichi. "Okay, so when we got out, we ended up in this dark room, okay? There was nothing but some wrecked benches, shattered glass and an old curtain or something of the sort. There was a door, which was locked, but thanks to your wicked old mentor Kisuke here -" Urahara bowed "-that problem was easily solved. Now we were in a hall and we read on the door he had just kicked in that it was from the Ministry of Mysti-something."

Harry's heart began to race. "The Department of Mysteries?"

"That's the one! Okay, now listen, this part of the story is really good. So now we left and somehow, we ended up in a large huge square, underground, and there, in the middle, is a huge big-ass statue of you, my dear Potter-man!"

Urahara popped his head up from behind Yoruichi. "The first thing we did, obviously, was making fun of your large nostrils! It had never occurred to us before, but they really _are_ above average."

"Anyhow," Yoruichi continued, pushing her friend away, "that's when three people came up to us, asking why we were laughing so loud. I told them it was nothing they would understand, but they insisted that they would, because they had been your best of friends! Can you believe that?"

His racing heart now stopped in his tracks. "My friends?"

Urahara nodded. "I believe their names were.. uhm.. something with an L, I'm sure… Lucy…"

"Granger?" Yoruichi helped. "Hermione Granger?"

"That's the one! And the other two were family, I guess. Uhm, a.. B?"

"Weasley," confirmed Yoruichi. "Eustace and Susan."

"Absolutely not," Urahara cut in. "Ron and Ginny?"

"That's exactly it! See how they sound just alike?"

"Not quite."

* * *

_"Ronald Weasley and his sister, Ginny. My name is Hermione Granger," introduced the woman her and her friends. "Pleased to meet you."_

_"Shihouin Yoruichi and Urahara Kisuke."_

_There was an awkward silence, when Ron spoke up. "So, Harry, huh."_

_"Potter?" Urahara raised his eyebrow. "Yeah, I was wondering. Why the statue? He's not _that_ good, really."_

_"You're just envious, aren't we, little misunderstood genius?" mocked Yoruichi. _

_"Am not little!" Urahara folded his arms together. "I was _just_ asking what the deal was of this statue. I mean, what's with that twig in his hand, anyway?"_

_Hermione frowned. "I can't believe you dare mocking him. Even in this room!"_

_"Why can't we mock him?" Yoruichi asked. "Come on, even you have to admit that that cloak is so twenty years ago."_

_"Exactly!" exhaled Ginny. "That's when he first came to Hogwarts."_

_A light bulb appeared above Urahara's head. "Oh! Hogwarts, Hermione, Voldemort, Dumbledore, Sirius, Ron, Ginny, Nurgles… it's all coming back to me! Harry told me back at the academy!"_

_"Academy?" Ron asked. "I've never heard anyone call Hogwarts an academy before…"_

_"He means the shinigami academy," Yoruichi explained. "So, the twig?"_

_Ginny frowned. "He mentioned nurgles… he must be serious."_

_"Yeah, but listen to this, when I spoke to him yesterday, he didn't really seem like a -"_

_"I told you not to mock him," warned Hermione again. "He's been gone for twenty years. Afterlife contact other than with ghosts is impossible, I've never heard of it before."_

_"Hold your voice, girl," Yoruichi said. "Harry's been in Soul Society for twenty years. For someone who thinks who is smart, you're not very smart."_

_Pouting, Hermione decided to wait for the conversation to continue. It was Ginny who first asked the question._

_"How is he?"_

_"Are you serious?" gasped Hermione._

_"I believe he's quite fine." Urahara answered amused. "Sometimes a bit hung up on worries about, I guess, you guys. You sais you were his friends?"_

_"Yeah, we were," said Ron. "But, hang on- does this mean that he's out there? That we can actually see him? Speak with him?"_

_An indecisive nod from Urahara. "The moment we finish our experiment on interworld traveling -" ("Goodness me") "-we will see if we can make it for non-spiritual beings-" ("You can_not_ be serious.") "-and so transport someone from your world -" ("Please don't say it…") "-into our world."_

_"..I can't believe you did say it," Hermione snarled. "Listen, I do not know why the psychiatry ward of St. Mungo's let you go, but-"_

_"Who are you calling crazy here, woman?" bit Yoruichi. "Watch what you say."_

_"How about you be quiet now, Hermione?" suggested Ron, patting her on the shoulder. "Let the open-minded people talk out of the box, now."_

_Hermione made an angered noise and threw her hands up in the air. She spun around and went to sit on a bench near the statue. She diverted her eyes from the group, her arms folded._

_"Well, now that we know our experiment works at least one way, I think we need to focus on the other way around. I guess we'll see you later!" grinned Urahara. He reached out for his green bracelet._

_"No, wait!" was the last scream of desperation (for answers, they bet) from Hermione that they heard._

* * *

For a moment, Harry was completely taken aback from their story. "They were okay? Did they mention anything about a Luna, or Neville, or perhaps anything about ~"

"_THAT_ is what you get from the story?" sighed Urahara in exasperation. "These bracelets kick ass, if I may say so myself, and they are going to safe your world, Potter!"

"How exactly?" continued Harry, irritated.

"Because your Voldydude is the key to releasing your precious Rukia-san."

"Wha- how?"

"Well, you see," started Urahara, sounding a lot more serious now. He closed his fan and put it on his lap, his hands in fists. "I bet you do remember that untraceable gigai I created years ago. Then you must also remember the hougyouku I showed you. It seemed that it was quite the wrong invention… you see, it breaks down the limits of either shinigami or hollows.

"It so means, that those powers can blend together in an individual, creating some sort of ultra-warrior. After some experimenting with it, after which we were banished, don't ask, it turned out that it created uncontrollable monsters.

"To get rid of it, I had to think of a way of suppressing it's powers. So I hid it in the gigai, which I happily handed over to, I am ashamed to say, Kuchiki Rukia, when she needed one the most.

"Now the next problem was, that Rukia-san's power had thus far diminished that it would no longer stop the hougyouku from seeking power. She could hold it off for a bit, but we needed something much more stronger.

"We tried some more things, like putting it into a hollow, which did not work; after being slaughtered, the orb would just fall down and wait for the next victim to appear. Same thing with plusses; the moment konsho was performed, the hougyouku left it's surroundings.

"This made me think: what if the hougyouku was to be put into something unfamiliar to him? That's when you gave me the next brilliant idea we're still trying to pull off: your magic powers. We know that you don't have any left of it; it was transferred into reiatsu in that limbo that brought Yoruichi-san and myself into your magic world. Putting it into one of your friends came to mind, but I knew that that would be useless.

"Which brings me to the conclusion of this ramble: we need that Voldotwarttle to accept it. But for it to happen, we need him here; the only place where the hougyouku thinks it can go it's own way because of all the spirit particles. The greatness of Dickaduddle's strength and combined powers from all kinds of sources will destroy the orb. Not just that; we think the hougyouku will destroy it's surroundings with him. That will not only safe our world, but yours, too."

The shelter was dark, and the only light there came from cracks in the walls. The heavy atmosphere was now almost killing, when Harry's mind fit the pieces together. That's what he's been noticing all this time. That odd reiatsu popping up on the weirdest of occasions, randomly anywhere he went. That's why it was so much stronger in the material world; Voldemort must've been close back then. That's why Urahara was banished and that is why Rukia's reports turned out to be so vague.

"You SON OF A BITCH!" Harry screamed, throwing himself upon his old mentor. "How _dare_ you do that to Rukia? How DARE you involve Voldemort in all this? I felt his presence and you never warned me for him?"

"Wait, wait, wait wait," said Urahara, quick to defend himself. "All I want is to return the hougyouku and destroy it. Whatever happens to Rukia-san is up to you."

"You are luring Voldemort into this place," bellowed Harry. "Do you have ANY idea what consequences it could bring?"

"None!" replied Urahara happily. "He'll die before he could do anything!"

"He can't die here, you _git_!"

In silence, Yoruichi has been observing that what was going on in front of her. Only seconds after Harry's outburst, she stood up and placed a hand on her hip. "I think there's more, Kisuke."

"Hmmm?" asked he, struggling out from under Harry's pressure in wrestling.

"While experimenting, we never detected anything. How could _he_ have?" she nodded her head towards Harry. "I don't think he's a normal soul… Or is he?"

"No," Urahara agreed. "I don't think he's a normal soul after all…"

Harry wiped the dust off his sleeves and looked up to the two in front of him.

And suddenly, he felt a shiver going down his spine.


	22. Give an answer

_**Author's**_** note:** Sorry, school and exams and study and more kept me from writing. Only two or three more chapters to go, though, and I intent to finish them before September!

...

"If they were telling the truth, it would explain why the Death eaters and You-Know-Who started coming out of their hiding places again," said Ron, sipping his coffee. Next to him sat Hermione, arms crossed, still skeptic about their meeting with the two from 'another world'. There was also Ginny, absentmindedly stroking the now very old Crookshanks, and Luna Lovegood, reading the script for the newest Quibbler, a job she now does in her father's place.

"You think?" Hermione sighed. "Why's that?"

"If the news has spread that Harry's not.. '_really_' dead, You-Know-Who would want to find out, right? He'll start investigating it. Besides, those two talked as if they really knew him."

"Everybody knows Harry, Ronald," Hermione sighed again. "I just don't see how the Order is going to be involved in this story from escaped people from the ward. I just don't think their story added up."

"They're not from our Closed ward," said Ginny. She had been working there after finishing her very successful Quidditch career. "I would have recognized them."

The four people sighed. Crookshanks purred and then stretched his muscles. He stood up, jumped on the floor and lay down in a corner.

"How about we go over everything we know one more time," suggested Hermione. Ginny and Ron answered with a deep, exasperating sigh. "Again?"

But Luna shifted in her seat and put down the Quibbler. "I think it's a very good idea. What I've heard from you, is that Harry is still out and about there somewhere, very much alive. He's been studying at this particular school to be something to protect the other world, the one he lives in now. Would Voldemort know about this, I wonder..."

"Oh! That's it!" Hermione yelled, making Crookshanks jump. "Hold on..." and off she ran to the study.

"Some people never change," noted Ginny, amused.

Luna laughed, but Ron didn't respond. His eyes were staring at the door Hermione had just run through and he had a frown on his face. "I haven't seen her this exited about knowing something we don't since..." He stopped to think. "I don't know. But it can't be good."

The smile on Ginny's face faded. Luna closed the Quibbler and put it down. "Should we worry about our own world?" she asked no one in particular.

None of them could give an answer.

...

"The plan is to lure this Voldemort into Soul Society?" bellowed the Captain Commander.

"Yes," sighed Urahara happily, glad the captain understood his situation. "It would benefit everyone!"

"Rejected!" was the reply. "The thread of someone that murderous and dangerous is an insult to us! We do not know his powers and we do not know how they work against us. They are dangerous and I will not permit them entrance to our world."

"Ah," Urahara said, lifting his special occasions-hat and starting to twirl it around on his finger. "But you see here, if Voldemort discovers Harry's existence here, he will find a way in himself."

"That's preposterous, our defenses are excellent!"

The weekly meeting had almost finished when Urahara had burst in the room and begged the captain to support this cause. Most captains present were very interested in this story, but the commander did not care for it.

"Sir, if I may?" Harry stepped forward. "If this plan works and if what Urahara has been saying about these bracelets is true, I know ways to test their powers against ours. It's tricky though, especially when we don't know _if_they work."

"Which they do!" interrupted Yoruichi. "We've been there, we've seen them, we'll go again. I'll be the guinea pig."

"I will not allow my captains to concentrate on this matter," stated the commander once more. In reply, Kuchiki Byakuya stepped forward and made a quick bow towards Yamamoto. "In that case, I must depart. There are matters around my sister that must be taken care of."

Hatred boiled up inside Harry; he had not forgotten about her punishment; definitely not. He had just forgotten about the obnoxious older brother who wanted her dead because a stupid book of laws said so. Harry resisted the urge to bolt after Byakuya and tried to focus at what was important now; defeating Voldemort.

"I will contact people I trust. They will duel anyone you pick out. Test their magic, test their skills."

Yamamoto remained silence for a while. Then he looked up and searched for Harry's eyes. "Your determination is what we approved of before you were made captain. I shall trust your judgment. But will this fail, I will strip you of your position, your powers and your name."

Harry bow. "Thank you for your under-"

"I'M NOT FINISHED," yelled the captain commander. "I will not allow any other division to help. Shall I find out about other captains aiding you, the same fate will overcome them."

Nodding, Harry waited for more. When none came, he bow, once more, and left the room, having Urahara and Yoruichi trailing him.

...

"This is what I found out," said Hermione, spreading out the book on the table. The 'light reading' from their first year was nothing compared to this one. The book was extremely old, only staying in one piece thanks to magic. The title read "_In which of the universes?"_.

_Despite a world of differences between muggles and wizards, the existence of worlds outside of ours have never been proven. There are a lot of theories on this topic. One of them is a livable world inside the earth; a hollow planet, if you may. Another one is a limbo, where lost spirits have been said to roam forever. For more, turn to __**page 4972**_.

Hermione enthusiastically turned hundreds of pages before hitting the right one. "There it is!"

_**Limbo**__'s are only ever confirmed by ghosts, saying there was a nothingness after their dead, in which they were able to choose between going back to the world of living as a ghost or move on to where no one has ever returned from. This information has never been accepted as true, however, because stories have always been mixed up. Descriptions have repeatedly shown different places and experts believe the experience was a state of mind right before dying, when the brain puts its last efforts on surviving. When the decision remains unmade, however, the person would remain in that place in a sole loneliness, not alive, not dead. _

"That can't be it," Hermione frowned. "These people were definitely not alone. And they had met Harry!"

Luna smiled at her. "I see you finally found the key to open that box in your head."

Ignoring her remark, Hermione continued to search through the pages, but fruitlessly. There was no more useful information. "And this was my best shot," she pouted.

...

Urahara and Yoruichi shunpoed off to the top of Soukyoku Hill to start preparations for their trip to the material world. Harry, who would only stand in their way, decided to walk there and ease his mind along the way. He never got the peace of mind he had hoped to achieve, though.

"POTTER!"

Turning around, Harry automatically reached for his zanpakutou ("Not my wand," he realized proudly) upon recognizing the voice. "Kurosaki."

"OY POTTER!"

"What do you want?" asked Harry, stepping aside so that the boy would not crush into him.

"POTTER LISTEN!" cried Ichigo.

"I AM LISTENING!" bellowed Harry.

"Oh okay," said Ichigo, calmly leaning against a wall. Harry sighed from frustration. "Tell me where Rukia is now."

Harry raised his eyebrows. "She's still in the tower."

"No she's not," replied Ichigo. "I broke it down, she wasn't there."

A frown appeared on Harry's face. If she wasn't in there, where would she be? ..could Byakuya have taken her away to a new prison? Why hasn't he been informed about this?

"Let's go," suggested Harry, implying an alliance with Kuchiki Ichigo. "We'll save her."

...

An alarm rang through the building and the four in the room shot up. A lynx patronus entered the room and said in a deep voice, "Mrs. Weasley, unknown magic has been registered in the ministry. Aurors are standing watch until you arrive."

Hermione jumped up. "I told them to notify me should the two of them show up again, after tracing their magical cores for future references!" she said excitedly. "Let's go see if it's them again."

Luna, Ron, Ginny and Hermione sprinted to the doors and Disapperated to the guests entrance in London. While they waited for the elevator to go down, Luna looked up at the ceiling and started thinking out loud. "I wonder how long the ministry will remain in our own hands now."

All eyes were now fixed upon her. "What do you mean?" asked Ginny.

Luna's eyes found Ginny's as she started explaining. "Well, once Voldemort realizes what's up with Harry, he will want to go all out again, won't he? If I were him, I'd take down the biggest organization standing in my way."

"But that's the Order," Hermione pointed out. Then she found Luna's train of thought. "..which is of course a secret organization that relocates every so often... while the ministry has been on the same location for centuries with archives about their employees and ex-employees..."

She jumped when Ron took her hand. He squeezed is reassuringly and said, "It will be all right."

Hermione smiled thankfully.

...

"Kuchiki Byakuya!"

Harry had arrived with Ichigo and saw Byakuya standing atop the Soukyoku Hill. With him was Rukia, and they seemed to be engaged in conversation.

"Rukia," said Harry, who went to stand next to her. He held out his arms and when she reluctantly took his hug, she fought back tears. Ichigo drew his zanpakutou, but stood still and watched, ready to dive into battle when necessary.

"Interrupting is impolite, captain Potter," Byakuya sneered, but Harry didn't pay him any attention. He was calming down Rukia by talking to her slowly, reassuring her things would be okay, he wouldn't let her down.

"I do not believe giving her false hope will solve this situation," Byakuya said heartlessly. "She will be executed for her crimes."

The hate Harry felt during the captain's meeting came dangerously close to surface, but for Rukia's sake, he tried to suppress it some more.

"There is no need to try and comfort her, in a couple of days it will all be over."

"THAT'S ENOUGH," screamed Harry in a high-pitched voice. "Have you completely forgotten about her?"

Raising an eyebrow, Byakuya shook his head. "Au contraire, Potter, I am tying the knots on the last bumps to the execution day."

"I'm not talking about Rukia," Harry snarled back.

It took a while before it hit Byakuya. He frowned angrily and took a step forward. "How dare you bring Hisana into this?"

"HOW DARE YOU KEEP HER OUT?" Harry's arms still around Rukia, Hisana's legacy, Hisana's treasure; Hisana's hopes, about to be crushed by Hisana's love. "This is Rukia we're talking about."

"It's a sad way of ending this but it is unavoidable." Byakuya put his foot down.

"What was the last thing you promised Hisana?" Harry asked, hugging Rukia tighter. He could not reach for his zanpakutou now, but he knew Ichigo was keeping an eye out.

"DO YOU WANT ME TO REPEAT MYSELF?" bellowed Harry. "WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU PROMISED HISANA?"

Grey eyes opened wide and then softened. They went from Harry to Rukia and they lingered upon her. Byakuya stood up straight and stepped back, his eyes never leaving Rukia. It was as if he only just realized what he has been doing all this time. He stepped back more and suddenly turned around, paced a few steps and shunpoed away.

A river of tears soaked into Harry's uniform when Rukia finally allowed herself to break down.

...

Upon arriving the fountain, where they had first met up with the two from another world, only aurors stood there. There was no bright orange jacket or a green-striped hat.

"Have they already left?" asked Hermione Shacklebolt.

He shook his head. "They have not yet arrived. But never in the history of the Ministry of Magic has this happened."

"What's that?" asked Ron.

"The veil in the Room of Death," Shacklebolt started. The five of them swallowed and remained silence for a couple of seconds, remembering that night fifteen years ago, when Harry passed through and left their world for good. "That veil was here when the Ministry was built. The Department of Mysteries has been built around it. We still don't know who or what placed it there or even why. But it looks like this is _another_ portal."

Ginny hastily stepped back from it. "Does it kill as well?"

Shaking his head, Shacklebolt continued. "We're not sure. It's not like anyone has volunteered to try. The Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures refused to deliver us a creature to try it with."

"I should think so," said Hermione. "Those house elves to sacrifice themselves?"

But Shacklebolt laughed. "I was thinking of doxies."

Ethically, Hermione still disagreed, but she couldn't think of anything else to test out the theory. She even suggested a plant, but plants don't have souls. Ron laughed at her.

"I'll try," Luna said pleasantly. And before anyone could hold on to her or stop her, she darted towards the crack in the air and disappeared behind it.

...

A cry of surprise came from the other side of the Soukyoku Hill, but Harry didn't even notice. He was still calming Rukia down, reassuring her that now that Byakuya had come to his senses, he might come up with an idea to safe her from this fate.

It wasn't until minutes later that something finally distracted him. Had he imagined it, or did he just see a flash of dirty blond he had never ever expected to see again?

Harry kissed Rukia's forehead and told her to join Ichigo to the quarters of Twelfth. "My division will look after you. I'll come for you soon."

Rukia nodded and walked to Ichigo. She avoided his eyes, but took his hand to shunpo away.

"That was touching, Harry," came a voice from behind him. His instincts didn't even tell him to fetch his weapon of choice. "I think it's a good thing she's away now, though, because there will be more people here to greet you."

Harry turned around and looked straight into the bright eyes of Luna Lovegood. He was completely taken aback by her beaming at him, but there was nog enough time to recover. He had only time to stand firmly onto the ground, when he saw flashes of brown and red running towards him.

Relieved, a burden falling from his shoulders, Harry fell to his knees.


	23. Only inches away

_**Author's**** note:**_So a couple of days ago I discovered that you can add an image to the story's summary. I know nothing but I'd really like one, so if you have a creative idea, please let me know!

* * *

_**23. Only inches away**_

The room was dead silent. Harry, sitting on his chair in his office, had his hands folded and repeatedly squeezed himself to make sure he hadn't landed into some sort of weird dream. He was not alone in the room; many people were there, many of whom Harry had never _ever_ expected to see together. It was quite the gathering, really.

On his left was Hermione, holding Ron's hand. Harry only just noticed; had they hooked up? On his right sat Ginny, her back straightened, not moving a muscle; taking in her surroundings, probably thinking of a way to break the tension. Rukia sat in a corner, her knees bent up to her knees, her arms wrapped around them. On the floor in the middle of the office were Yoruichi and Urahara, who were toying around with instruments, apparently 'measuring their alien skills'. Luna was slowly walking around the office, picking up a book or a picture once in a while, sometimes releasing an 'oh!' or 'ahh' upon discovering something new.

"So," decided Harry. He immediately regretted saying something; seven pairs of eyes were suddenly very focused on his face. "So..."

He knew nothing more to say and hated himself for it. For the past fifteen years, all he worried about was his friends being alive, being okay; now that they were here and he could ask them all he wanted, he knew nothing.

"Who's this?" helped Luna. She held up a frame holding a picture of little toddler Rukia together with Hisana and Harry, back in Rukongai. "She hasn't got her eyes, but she's very much the same," she added, pointing to Rukia.

"She's my sister," Rukia answered softly. "She died a while ago."

A frown appeared on Luna's face. She put back the picture and went to sit next to Rukia. "I lost my mum when I was nine. She liked to experiment, but one time it went wrong. Now she's somewhere safe, where she can try out everything she'd like. I think after death we continue having dreams. They're real then, though. And good, and endless."

Rukia smiled. "Then I suppose my sister is out there dancing in the meadows and learning all about the pretty flowers there."

"Perhaps," Harry joined in. "But I think she might be living her life again, in a different way. With you by her side."

"So what happens here when you die?" asked Hermione. "I don't mean to be rude, but this is all so new and I know nothing about -well, this world."

"Some people never change," Ginny stated again. Harry chuckled.

"We held a ceremony. She was buried. But her body is made out of soul particles and they shatter, to build up new things. Broken flowers, damaged trees, you call it." Harry remembered the burial. It was one of the very few times he felt sympathy for Kuchiki Byakuya.

"So that's what we do here... what did you do? What happened after I died?" Harry asked, feeling uncomfortable. But luckily there's always Luna, who seems immune for awkward situations. "We couldn't find a body," she answered without pausing her search through Harry's stuff. "But we held a ceremony at Hogwarts. Everybody came. Except for a couple of Slytherins, but you can't blame them. Too many worshipping of you."

Harry frowned. "What kind of worshipping?"

"Don't worry, mate," said Ron. "All that happened is that Nearly Headless Nick gathered all ghosts to sing their homemade song 'Welcome to the dead but where are you?', Dumbledore named a courtyard after you and Hagrid's tears could've saved a country from a dry spell, but it wasn't something big."

It was quiet for another minute. Luna had finished exploring the bookshelves and now went on to the window-side of the room. She suddenly seemed in trance looking out of the window, taking in the simply designed architecture of Seireitei. Harry could hear Ron and Hermione whisper vaguely, but didn't bother to listen closer. There seemed to be a huge gap between the three of them, which was bigger than just the fifteen year break from each other.

Ginny spoke up. "So what's the deal in the here and now? What do you know about Voldemort?"

The answer came from someone she hadn't expected to answer: Urahara Kisuke.

"Well, my dear lady," he started. "All we know is that he is trying to find a way into Seireitei to find Harry-kun to kill him."

Harry snorted at his old mentor's breezy explanation. "You forget the part where you lure him to this place," he pointed out.

Urahara shrugged but said nothing more.

"So what's the deal?" asked Hermione. "Why would you lure Voldemort into here?"

"Because," said Rukia, who had picked up on the conversation. "Because he wants something from Harry, I think."

"And we know what," said Yoruichi, her face stern. "You see, what Harry-kun doesn't know is that we" -she pointed to herself and Urahara- "have been doing research on him. His reiatsu is different than ours and we didn't know why; there is a theory, though."

"Reiatsu?" asked Luna. "What does the mating-process of the nargles have to do with this?"

Deciding not to answer her second question, Urahara did answer the first. "Reiatsu is something extra a soul can have, which gives him or her powers which are used to protect Soul Society or wandering souls."

"Is that something Harry has as well?" asked Hermione. She looked at him as if trying to see something to indicate this reiatsu.

"Yes, but, like I said before, it's different than anyone else's," continued Urahara. "Each individual has his own unique reiatsu, of course. Let me put it like this: in terms of feeling reiatsu, there's this pressure and all pressures all the same. It's just that Harry's reiatsu presses much harder and heavier than any other reiatsu I have ever encountered in my time as shinigami."

"I can explain that," answered Hermione simply. Her words made Urahara look up in bewilderment; Yoruichi drop her measuring instrument, Rukia let go of her legs and sit up straight and Harry pushed himself up from his chair to get a better look at Hermione.

"Yeah that's simple," she said with a small smile upon seeing their reactions. "Ron, you know it too."

"I do?" he asked, screwing up his face thinking.

"Yes. In our sixth year, Dumbledore asked us to help him look for ways to defeat Voldemort in case he should return."

"Return?" asked Harry. "He left?"

"Yeah," said Ron. "After you died, he retreated somewhere. We never understood why. Now that you were out of the way -sorry for my choice of words- he could go rise to power. But now that you're here, I guess.. he knew.. and.."

An imaginary light bulb appeared above his head. "Oh! Yes I do know!"

Hermione smiled, but Urahara could no longer. "TELL US FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!"

Hermione stood up. "Dumbledore had discovered that Voldemort had split his soul into several pieces. These pieces are called horcruxes. In our second year, Harry, you destroyed the first one with the basilisk's fang: Riddle's diary."

Surprised, Harry nodded. "I remember."

"Now," Hermione went on, "there were more. Way more. We searched for five more of them; Voldemort always believed seven was a magical number and so seven pieces of his soul would protect him. The diary being the first, five more to go and the last one remained in Voldemort's being. Together with Dumbledore, we searched and searched; and then finally we had found the lot of them. We even managed to capture the snake, Nagini, under the pretense that Snape was protecting it."

"Snape?" asked Harry.

"Yes, Snape. He was on our side all this time, Harry, and it's only a matter of time before Voldemort finds out," she sighed. "But we weren't sure if Voldemort would know when we would destroy one, so we kept them somewhere safe, protected by spells and protections from each of us."

Hermione smiled to Harry, who recognized the way of protecting something; the philosopher's stone had been protected in the same way.

"We've developed a spell to destroy the place with fiendfyre from a distance, should we ever come in a situation that requires it. Such as...," she hesitated, "a confrontation."

Right that moment, without any warning, the door to the office opened and Hitsugaya Toushiro ran inside. He stopped in front of Harry and slapped a form on his desk. "WHAT IS THIS?"

Raising his eyebrows, Harry picked up the paper and quickly scanned over it. "It's my autograph upon releasing Ichimaru Gin from his punishment." Looking daringly into Hitsugaya's eyes, he added: "What's it to you?"

"Gin is listed as highest suspect on the killing of Aizen," Hitsugaya answered. "The rules says it only takes one captain's autograph to restart the _entire_ investigation from scratch. Do you have _any_ idea how much time this will take?"

"Yes," Harry said simply. "But I truly do not believe Gin killed Aizen. I believe he was involved in some conspiracy that Aizen created, but I find the thought of Gin having killed Aizen preposterous."

"Even Matsumoto Rangiku witnessed against him," Hitsugaya snarled between his teeth. "If anyone would know about him, she would."

"She's been having fights with him for ages, what if she's just witnessed to annoy him?"

This hit a nerve. Hitsugaya leaned over the desk until he was only inches away from Harry. "She is a loyal and honest woman with a massive sense for justice. She would not step away from her professionalism for personal conflict."

"True," said Harry. "That's true... but that won't make me take back my autograph."

"_You're impossible_," were Hitsugaya's last words, before bursting out of the room, form in hand.

As if never been interrupted from their conversation, Urahara turned to Hermione and asked, "then why is Harry's reiatsu different?"

Shaking her head to remember where she left the conversation, Hermione continued. "That night when Voldemort first lost his powers, when he killed your parents, Harry, he made another horcrux; unintentionally and without knowing it. Of you."

Yoruichi clapped her hands. "He's heavier because he's carrying two souls!"

"Unbelievable," whispered Urahara.

"But there must have been some clue about this," Yoruichi continued. "You can't be two souls and not know about it."

_I think I know,_ said a voice only Harry could hear.

And then Harry knew as well. "Keishu," he screamed out in surprise. "I canNOT believe I never realized this!"

"Explain," demanded Urahara.

"Keishu's spirit is Voldemort's form. My inner world is shaped in the same way the place was when Voldemort regained his body after thirteen years of lingering on the edge of alive and human."

"What's Keishu?" Hermione asked. "Gesundheid," Ron answered. He laughed stupidly at his own joke.

"I'll give you the short version," said Harry, while the office spun around him. "Our swords have personalities and names and abilities of their own. Mine is named Keishu."

He sat down. All of it made sense now. That's why he has always been the only one who could sense that feeling of a blanket wrapped around him occasionally; it wasn't reiatsu, it was his second halve.

It was then when it happened: sirens blasted through the air, red lights flashed through the room and windows and a colossal voice spoke through the heavens: "_Emergency state. Emergency state. All captains and vice-captains are to gather at first division's meeting hall immediately. I repeat, all captains and vice-captains are to gather at first division's meeting hall immediately. Aizen is alive. I repeat, Aizen is alive."_

Things went very fast. Rukia sprung up, yelled "Thirteenth!" and she ran away while reaching for her zanpakutou. Luna was still staring to the outside world, almost determined to oversee a situation she had no knowledge about. Ron and Hermione jumped up, Ron holding her close to him. Ginny stood up, her eyes large and frightened. Urahara and Yoruichi simply nodded to each other and made a run for it.

But Harry wasn't paying attention to any of this. He had suddenly crouched down on the floor, biting his tongue in pain, holding his scar: experiencing a cruel pain he hadn't felt in over fifteen years.


	24. A fool's work

_**Author's note: We're getting close to the end now!**_

* * *

Hermione ran to Harry, recognizing the look of pain in his eyes. "It's your scar, isn't it?"

Harry gasped in response, trying to focus his vision, trying to keep from passing out. The pain was nearly unbearable. "We have to go," he managed to say.

"Where?" asked Ron. He held Ginny's hand in his own and reached out for Luna's.

What if this pain meant that Voldemort had infiltrated Soul Society? And this revelation of Aizen.. What if they had teamed up?

"I know where," Harry gritted through his teeth.

He sprung up and ran off, not caring much whether the rest would follow him or not. He was joined by Hitsugaya not much later, who asked for orders. "You know him best, where do you suppose -"

But Harry shook his head. "I have no idea what he's capable of anymore."

They ran towards the gates that separated Seireitei from Rukongai. On their way there, the both of them ran into Urahara and Yoruichi. They were in their defensive modes, and shooed Harry away. "We'll take care of Aizen."

"Thank you!" Harry yelled. But before he could continue running, he was stopped by Urahara. "Safe both our worlds, Harry-kun. Take the Hougyouku and destroy it together with Volderderdle."

"How will I do that?" Harry asked. His head was still spinning with pain, but he had to stay conscious.

Urahara answered really fast. "I've made the Hougyouku so that it now searches for what I like to call, 'Potter-essence'. It searches for magic cores. Yours is gone so you're safe, but when the Hougyouku is near Voldemort, it'll enter him by itself. Don't let Voldadumdum notice, though!"

He thrust a package into Harry's hands and then shunpoed back to Yoruichi's side.

Harry started running again, running to where he knew for certain that Voldemort would show up.

It would be where Harry's journey in Soul Society had started.

District 78.

Passing through all the different districts, Harry could feel other reiatsu coming closer. They were familiar; some of his own men who were on duty in Rukongai were following Harry's moves and he felt captains and vice-captains closing in on him as well.

Seconds later, he realized just how much he would need them.

There were Death Eathers, everywhere. They were running around causing havoc, trying their magic on the harmless souls who lived here. Upon his first sight, Harry realized that the killing curse and the cruciatus curse did not affect the souls being targeted.

For Harry, this meant that he could leave these Death Eaters to the shinigami who were following him. He saw the bright orange of Rangiku flash by him, attacking a group of seven masked followers of Voldemort. Her Haineko was effective, as the group scattered apart upon being attacked by her Shikai.

But Harry continued to run, shunpo and run faster to his destination. The closer he got, the blurrier his vision became; his head felt like it was on fire, about to split open from pain. His body protested, but it had to move. It had to.

_I've been waiting for so long. More than thirty years it has been since I last held power. But soon, the boy will be dead by my hands and I will rise to glorious strengths. I, who has witnessed and conquered Dark Magic like no other wizard ever has... _

_It has been a long and painful journey. But everything will sort out and the power will be mine. _

_He shall come to me. _

Harry arrived at district 78, Inuzuri. He stopped in his tracks and caught his breath, while massaging his temples. He could not fade out now, not now that he was so close to confronting his utmost fear: an alive and powerful Voldemort.

Gathering his strength, Harry jogged to the spot he remembered entering this world to. Where he exited the limbo and met Hisana and Rukia for the first time.

He turned the last corner and then froze on the spot.

It wasn't just Voldemort there. An army of nine Death Eaters were gathered around him. Harry recognized Bellatrix Lestrange, the woman who had released the jinx that had killed Harry. There was Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, Peter Pettigrew, Severus Snape, Crabbe and Goyle, and two Harry did not recognize the faces of. They had all greatly aged; grayed and lines on their faces.

"You couldn't leave your groupies at home, then?" Harry yelled, asking for their attention. Upon seeing Harry, the Death Eaters widened their eyes and a wave of murmurs went through the group. "It's true", "he's here!", "I cannot believe this" and "Oh, my, god" were popular one-liners.

But Voldemort didn't reply. His snake-like eyes just moved in their sockets to search for Harry. He then turned his body, facing the right way. When Voldemort walked two steps, the group of Death Eaters had grown silent. Utterly silent.

"Well, well," Voldemort chanted in a low voice. "Harry Potter. Even in death I can't seem to rid you."

"Yeah," Harry said, and a layer of warmth suddenly came over him. It calmed him down. "Yes, I am now a master of death. A god of death, some may even say."

Voldemort's eyes slid closer, if possible. "A master of death, you say?"

"Yes," confirmed Harry. The warmth that spread over him came from inside him. He knew that this was it. The moment Harry had feared and Voldemort had been waiting for.

The Death Eaters were chuckling with confidence. Funny, Harry mused, because they are in a world of which they know nothing about; neither magic nor culture. They must believe that they have outnumbered him and that would be all that's needed.

Suddenly, Harry realized that he didn't know if his zanpakutou and reiatsu would be helpful against magic at all.

_One way to find out,_ answered Keishu. But other things needed to be cleared, first.

"How did you get here?" Harry asked Voldemort.

Voldemort beamed. "Quite the same way you got here, Potter. I investigated the portal you went through and destroyed it."

The portal Harry got through. It was the same portal that had converted Harry's magical powers into reiatsu. Voldemort must have skipped this process, because he was holding his wand in one hand, as if ready to strike immediately.

"It took you long enough to get here," Harry responded sarcastically. "I could feel your presence several times over the past fifteen years, yet only now you show up."

Nothing changed in Voldemort's expression. "It would be a fool's work to enter a world that is not his own, boy. I had to get to know this."

"And what did you learn?"

Voldemort grimaced. Harry thought he saw a flash of insecurity in his eyes, but after one blink it was gone.

"You carry odd magic around," Voldemort answered. "We have taken part of it back and investigated it. I have found a way to master it myself," he concluded, a triumphant smile on his face.

"How could you have taken it back?" Harry asked baffled. He had no idea that was possible. Unless..

"We asked some, er, volunteers, if you'd like, to come with us," Voldemort smirked.

Anger rose up inside of Harry. How could Voldemort have entered here and taking souls away without him knowing? Next to the rising anger, there still was the warmth that slowly turned into heat. What was going on? Why wouldn't Keishu tell him what was going on?

"Would you like me to demonstrate, Potter?" Voldemort asked. Without Harry realizing it, Voldemort had raised his wand and it was now pointed directly at him.

It looked kind of silly, a small and vulnerable wand compared to big ass zanpakutous Harry had gotten used to.

Again, the Death Eaters had grown still, very still. They were holding in their breaths to await their master's first move.

"Crucio!" Voldemort hissed.

Instinctively, Harry closed his eyes and braced himself for what was coming. But nothing was. Nothing happened. Quickly, Harry opened his eyes to see a man standing in front of him.

"Hitsugaya!" Harry yelled in surprise.

Luckily, Hitsugaya didn't seem to be in any pain at all. Hyourinmaru was positioned in front of him, and the ice wings had blocked the spell entirely.

"I knew you needed help," Hitsugaya grinned.

That moment, reiatsu popped all around Harry. He could recognize Ikkaku, Yumichika, Rangiku, Byakuya, Renji and last but not least, Ichigo's.

The Death Eaters came in action immediately. Every one of them ran to form a circle around Voldemort and Harry, blocking the others from getting in the way. In a calm voice, Voldemort ordered, "Greyback," and immediately, one of the Death Eaters jumped in and pushed Hitsugaya out of the way.

Only Voldemort and Harry were left in the circle now. The Death Eaters stood with their wands raised and anxiously waiting their master's orders, but they did not come. This was Harry's time to show Voldemort what he was made of.

"Now!" Harry bellowed.

All around him, shinigami were attacking the Death Eaters. Hitsugaya had Greyback pushing him around, but now blocked with his shikai. Byakuya had taken a swing at Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, but missed by half an inch. "How dare you… my wife," Lucius gnarled. He took his wand and positioned himself in between Byakuya and Narcissa. Renji had found Crabbe and Goyle and was laughing at their dumb expressions. Ichigo was facing the other Death Eater Harry could not recognize, but he had heard someone call him 'Yaxley' before. Rangiku stood against Peter Pettigrew, who was mostly dumbfounded by the massive bosom she had brought with her. Bellatrix Lestrange stood behind Voldemort, wand at the ready, awaiting instructions, and behind her stood Severus Snape, who seemed to observe the shinigami more than anything else.

"This is it, Potter," said Voldemort in a low voice. "I have mastered your magic and I have found new ways to destroy you. Your life will end here."

Harry did not pay much attention to Voldemort's words. He was concentrating hard on Keishu and his release. This would be the first time he may need his Bankai in battle…

"Crucio!" Voldemort shrieked for the second time.

This time, Harry was prepared. He pointed Keishu towards Voldemort and yelled out, "Blind them all, Keishu!"

He felt the impact of the Cruciatus Curse on his erupting reiatsu, but the pain stayed out. Keishu turned a charcoal black color, bend slightly towards the sun. Harry saw Voldemort freeze to his spot; after quickly observing the change in zanpakutou, he turned around to face Snape. "What is this?"

So Snape had been investigating the shinigami and their weapons? Shikai was barely ever released in Seireitei, unless you disobey the rules and use shikai in drinking bets, so it was no surprise that Snape didn't know about them. Or maybe he did, but chose not to report this to Voldemort. Still, Harry had trouble believing that Snape had always been on their side.

As long as Voldemort was distracted, Harry thought this the perfect opportunity to make the move. He called out to Keishu. "Shine your light, Nagori."

Small balls of light appeared around Voldemort. Voldemort responded by lifting up his hands and releasing magic around him. The force of it pushed Harry back a couple of feet. He had no idea magic would be this powerful here…

Time for plan b. While collecting his reiatsu in his zanpakutou, Harry yelled: "Shine your light, Hoteru!"

The bend in Keishu straightened out by the massive reiatsu released into it. A glowing hot blow erupted from his sword, which flew in a perfect line towards Voldemort. The heat was felt all over the battlefield, as several fighting couples took refuge behind houses or walls to continue.

It was still no use. Maybe Bellatrix Lestrange was now further away from her master, but seeing that she was not engaged in this battle, Harry had achieved nothing. Voldemort seemed unharmed.

Perhaps it was time to bring out the big guns. Harry swallowed the lump in his throat away.

As Harry tried to re-steady his reiatsu, Voldemort moved.

He Apparated in front of Harry and pushed his wand into Harry's stomach.

It was too late to try to realize what was going on. All Harry could register at such a short term, were the words Voldemort spoke.

"Avada Kedavra."

* * *

_**Author's note: I wish you all a very happy New Year!**_


	25. Locate and find

_**25. Locate and find**_

**Author's note:** For any of you who are ByaHisa fans, check out my new fanfic. For the ones sticking with this story until the very end (oh yes I went there), thank you so much! Remember, there's only one or two chapters left, I have yet to decide. If there's anything you would like me to explain more or perhaps add to the story, or anything you'd like to say at all, now is the time!

* * *

"Avada Kedavra."

It happened in a flash. Harry was blasted backwards into a faraway wall and he lost all the air from his lungs upon the impact. His already aching head now felt like burning and the world around Harry spun and spun. He could no longer stand or hold Keishu; the place where Voldemort's spell hit was burned badly. His stomach and chest felt like they were baked from inside… which they probably were.

Harry fell on the floor and down to his knees. Because of the pain in his chest, his gasping for breath hurt extremely much, but he had to keep going. He felt his chest in pain and his hand was bloodstained within seconds. He pressed upon stings in his side and fought back vomit that was about to come up. As much as he could, he tried to ignore the black spots he saw. The screeching noise inside his ears and the blood that ran out of one of them made him feel sick. But he was not dead.

"What is this?"

Harry only heard it faintly, from afar, but he knew Voldemort was surprised once again. So much for the research he had done.

Trying to stand up, Harry adjusted his eyes to see what Voldemort had encountered. Something small was floating in front of his wand, mimicking it's every move, as if connected through magnetism. What was it, indeed?

That's when it hit Harry. The Hougyouku. He hadn't felt it before, when he had his hand on his chest: it must have been like Urahara had predicted. It wanted Voldemort.

It was only a couple of seconds later that Harry lost his last strengths and he was unconscious before he hit the ground.

"Harry?"

It did not take much energy to hear the voice speaking to him. It took all of his energy into trying to pry his own eyes open. He felt that he did not have enough strength and so he let them shut.

"Harry, can you hear me?"

Whose voice was it? Was it Hermione's? The second one definitely had been Hermione's.

"It's no good," the first voice said again. Harry thought he recognized Ginny's. Somewhere in the background, he heard explosions and bangs. Was the battle still going on?

"Harry, you have to wake up," urged Hermione. He still did not feel like responding and Hermione sighed. "We have to get him somewhere safe."

Two pairs of hands grabbed Harry: one around his shoulders and the other one took were wrapped around his knees. They lifted him up and then started moving. The pull on his legs hurt him badly in his stomach and Harry opened his eyes with a yell. "Ouch!"

"Oh!" said Ginny, letting go of his knees and gently putting him back on his feet. Hermione held his arms to keep him stable. "You're awake! Listen, we have to get back into the village and think of something."

"No," Harry replied, pressing a hand against his side. "No, we have to go back and defeat Voldemort."

"Oh Harry, we tried," Hermione said, looking back to see if they were being chased. "But we cannot do anything here. Our magic is weak in this place."

"I know," Harry replied. "That's probably why Voldemort didn't kill me."

"He used the killing curse?" Hermione asked, shocked. "How do you keep surviving that one, Harry?"

Harry grimaced. "What happened after I blacked out?"

Ginny replied, while starting to walk again. It was clear that she wanted the other two to follow. "It was only minutes ago. After he hit you, I think he believed you dead. He lost interest and suddenly became very fascinated by this big marble he held. Hermione has already used the spell to set the place on Fiend Fire where we hid the horcruxes, but it's no use anymore, now."

"The Hougyouku," Harry mumbled. "What happened next?"

"Next, we tried to get you out of this alive," Ginny answered, annoyed. "Get moving, you two."

Harry started to move, but not the way Ginny had intended. He walked back to the battling ground. Their hands tried to stop him, but Harry slapped them away. "It's me he wants, it's me he'll get." He felt stronger than he was: he walked five meters before falling down again. Perhaps it was a good thing he did…

A massive reiatsu appeared on scene and it was not one you could easily get away from. Loose pieces of walls and bricks flew away from the shinigami that had appeared and even boulders were ripped of their definite resting places. Walls fell over and every single one of the people present were blown off their feet.

Everyone, except for one.

Voldemort still stood on his feet, Hougyouku in his hands, his eyes slit in annoyance. He was observing the new nuisance, who had disturbed his feeling of victory over finally killing the boy. "A new face," he whispered. "Why don't you show your manners and introduce yourself?"

"There is no need to learn my name," answered the shinigami. And even though his vision was nowhere near sharp, Harry realized who the shinigami was. "I shall just take that orb from you and be on my way."

"Aizen!" Hitsugaya yelled from afar, after having just appeared. He was rushing towards the men in the middle of the battlefield.

"STAY BACK," Harry yelled, but it was too late. Both Voldemort and Aizen had delivered a blow to the captain of tenth, who was carried back by the force of it, burns all over his body, bleeding like crazy. He fell unconscious to the ground, where Harry could feel his reiatsu diminish in a rapid fashion.

Harry stood with his feet nailed to the ground. He was nervous and scared: he knew that he could never defeat _both_ Aizen and Voldemort. He had to come up with a plan now that neither of them were paying any attention to him. What could he do?

"I must say," Harry heard Aizen speak up. When had he become so devilish? "I am very impressed with your attempts to break into Soul Society. Won't you enlighten me of your works?"

Voldemort stood still, his slit eyes observing Aizen and probably the danger he could pose. Apparently, he found none too much of it: he replied. "I have tried many ways, my friend. I have used dark and old magic to make my way in here."

"Yet your magic seems not to be all powerful at all," Aizen stated, looking at Voldemort's wand. "Your followers would have defeated every single one of their attackers, if it were. What has helped you?"

A satisfied smirk grew on Voldemort's face. "You must listen if you want to learn. I shall repeat it for you: old magic. My potions master succeeded in making me an extremely difficult potion, the existence of which was only known in legends. With just a drop of blood added, magic would help me locate and find the owner of this blood."

"Oh?" Aizen said, seemingly impressed. "And where did you find this blood you speak of?"

"You would not know of this place," Voldemort replied, starting to get irritated with the man. "The Potter boy has lost a lot of blood in the Chamber of Secrets, a chamber my ancestor built."

"But Potter has been here for years," Aizen asked, skeptically. "That dried up blood must be useless to you."

"The chamber is dark and moist," Snape answered the question in Voldemort's place. "It had dried up, yes, but it was still useful enough to use in this potion."

During this conversation, which continued like this a bit longer, Harry had found Keishu and he was now making contact with his inner strengths. He had not wanted Keishu to appear in his world; no, he had to visit his own world.

And this he did. Only it was like never before.

Where the grass used to be dark and eerie, it was now in bloom, with small flowers showing their petals to make a colorful sight. The dark, cloudy skies were now a beautiful blue, with streaks of orange floating amidst. Rain appeared to fall in the form of glittering icy crystals, but it evaporated before it would hit Harry, and it gave the air a fresh, clean and nice smell. But the towering gravestone that Harry could not touch the first time he entered his inner world, was most different. It was a statue of a phoenix, and a large, familiar phoenix, at that. Harry recognized this bird anywhere: he had been saved by this bird in his second year at Hogwarts. "Fawkes!"

"Fawkes the phoenix?" a voice behind Harry said. "Have you grown stupid since that curse hit you? You know my name."

Harry spun around and saw a huge, live phoenix, standing serenely in the middle of the grass. At his feet, a small fire burned where he touched the ground; yet it did not seem to harm the grass in any way.

Shaking his head in bewilderment, Harry took a step forward. "Keishu?"

"I must say," Keishu said. "This is a huge improvement over the last décor you have chosen. And it feels very good to be my true form again."

"Your true form," Harry replied. "But you were the image of Voldemort, what happened?"

"Yes, you have grown stupid," Keishu sighed. "When that Avada Kedavra-curse hit you, it changed everything in an instant. Haven't you noticed? The heavy pressure in this air has lifted, I can breathe freely again."

A memory of Hermione's voice, only hours ago, entered Harry's mind.

_"That night when Voldemort first lost his powers, when he killed your parents, Harry, he unintentionally and without knowing, made another horcrux. Of you."_

_Yoruichi clapped her hands. "He's heavier because he's carrying two souls!"_

"Voldemort erased the part of his soul that was put in me," Harry thought out loud. "Incredible, so every time I saw you, every time I was in this place, it has been a reflection of Voldemort's soul in me." He shook his head again. "I can't believe I was so oblivious to the obvious…"

"I was created back in the portal through which you entered Soul Society," Keishu explained. "No other wizard has ever done this because no other wizard ever had the strength in his soul to make it through. You, however, had the strength of two souls."

Yes, Harry understood. Because of Voldemort, Harry had made it through to Soul Society. Where wizards would usually go on or transform into a ghost, Harry was pulled into a heavier afterlife because of his spiritual weight.

Fear suddenly stroke. If he had come here because of his heavy pressure, would he be able to stay now that he was just another regular soul? Being inside his own inner world, Harry thought he could stay; Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Luna were also here without carrying another soul.

"What do we do?" Harry asked Keishu.

"Use my full power," Keishu advised. "I am sending you back there. But be careful, I can't promise to safe us the next time you nearly die."

Keishu spread his wings and hit them together: the wind created by it pushed Harry back and up in the air, until he spun back onto the battlefield.

Harry opened his eyes just in time. Aizen reached out for the Hougyouku, which was still floating in front of Voldemort. The orb created a field around itself and Voldemort that exploded upon Aizen's touch. Aizen was thrown backwards, his skin ripping lose from his bones, a scream of terror gurgling from his throat. Immediately, shinigami captain appeared on the spot. Ukitake and Byakuya acted while using Kidou to refrain Aizen from moving, if he still possibly could.

Behind him, Harry heard a whooshing sound. He searched for the source of this and found Urahara and Yoruichi, standing side by side, looking as though they were preparing a spell themselves.

"Voldidradle is rejecting the Hougyouku. We have to get them closer together," Urahara told Harry. "Distract him."

Harry was in a lot of pain, but decided he was not the one to complain. He saw his friends, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Luna, but also Ichigo (yes, he might as well consider him a friend), Ikkaku, Yumichika (even though those two were still stupid), Rangiku and Hitsugaya… They needed him. Soul Society needed him, the wizarding world needed him.

Harry held a firm grip on Keishu and pointed it upwards, into the sky.

"Bankai. Light of the Bearer."


	26. The next great adventure

**Author's note:** So I have little words left. For ages I believed I would never finish this story, but here it is. I present to you the very last chapter of When His World Turns Over. I know it is WAY overdue, but I wanted to continue for those people who stuck to the story since whenever and who have (repeatedly) asked me to please finish.

Thank you all for your reviews, criticism and positive feedback. You have helped me evolve my writing skills and I am far from where I wish to be one day, but I am way closer than when I started six (6!) years ago.

Please enjoy this last chapter.

And of course, Happy Birthday Harry!

With love, Juud

* * *

_**26. The next great adventure**_

His surrounding was dark, not cold. He was comfortable yet felt excruciating pain. He dared not breathe, for moving a single muscle could kill him from the pain. Short and slow breaths already hurt and he almost believed that not breathing at all would help him out. There was absolutely nothing. Perhaps he could… yes, Harry thought, I feel something. He dared twitching his fingers, even if just a bit. He lay on something soft. It felt reassuring: he could not hear a thing; he could not see a thing; there was nothing to smell… but at least his sense of touch still worked. This was both a blessing and a curse. His victory of feeling with his fingers hurt and hurt bad. It went from bad to worse and more painful into a painful heat that made his mind go blank. His insides seemed to be burning up, as if he was a shell and his soul prickled, screamed to get out. Out of the burning, pinching and darkness that was his body.

Minutes passed by and he still did not know what was going on. He had no idea of his surroundings. Harry pushed his fingers into the soft material under him. What had happened?

Small fragments of memories flashed into his mind. He remembered Voldemort and fighting and Urahara and…

He had released his Bankai.

...

"_Bankai, Light of the Bearer."_

_A screech erupted from the hilt of his zanpakutou. The blade caught fire; fire that changed from red to blue and green and back to red. The flames found their way to the hilt, Harry's hands and finally Harry's entire body. He was surrounded by flames. They grew fiercer and larger with every passing second. Upon reaching its highest point, the fire shrieked again and then started to deform: out of the highest flames raised the head of a bird. It was crying and its large tears fell down onto Harry, which softened the pain from his injuries. The flames formed into the body of a large bird and remained in this shape. By the time the bird had released Harry and took his place beside him, he screeched one last time and then waited for an order._

"_A phoenix?" Voldemort said, seeming taken aback. He quickly found his aggressive posture again and then grimaced. "A phoenix. I see. Dumbledore's man through and through, after all this time."_

"_Always," Harry replied. _

_He had not been harmed by the bird's fire, but his body had partly healed. He could stand without falling down._

...

He remembered this. He remembered he was able to release Keishu's Bankai for the first time. Harry was not sure if it was a replica of Fawkes or not: he had never seen other phoenixes and could not compare.

His body still hurt. It felt as if it was splitting into two, and taking its easy time to do so. Harry wanted to cry out from pain, but he could not open his mouth, he could not make a sound. He could still only move his fingers.

...

"_What do you want from me?" Harry asked Voldemort. He felt strong now that Keishu was there with him. The Keishu that represented him, Harry, and not the Keishu that represented the Voldemort inside of him. "I am dead in your world, you won."_

"_You are mistaken, boy," Voldemort spat. "As long as you are conscious in any world, I have not defeated you."_

"_I have powers unknown to you," Harry threated, "You dare taking me on? With that little petty army you have left?"_

_Voldemort smiled confidently. "Do not underestimate me, Harry. I myself have developed ways to be certain of your kill."_

"_Enlighten me," Harry mocked. _

"_Snape!" Voldemort commanded. _

...

Someone was pulling his arm. Harry wanted to open his eyes, to plead for mercy, but he couldn't. He heard voices but could not distinguish what they were saying. The pain in his head was so bad he wanted nothing but to die from it. He begged anyone that was listening to make it stop.

He felt something puncture his arm and a warm liquid entered his body. It felt rather soothing, it diminished the pain. If only a little bit.

The liquid spread through his entire body and Harry was able to release some tension he had built up. His mind was no longer screaming for death but for awakening. Yet as Harry realized this, he fell away into a shallow slumber.

...

"_This magic will penetrate your body, Harry," Voldemort said, triumph on his face. "Enlighten him, Snape."_

_Snape stood there watching Lord Voldemort, but hesitated before reaching into his pockets. He drew out a small bottle holding a red substance. "This," Snape started, "is your blood, Potter."_

"_My blood?" Harry asked. "Is that the blood you found in the chamber of secrets?"_

"_Doesn't matter," Voldemort replied. "You might be more interested in what it does, Harry."_

_Harry remained silent. He did not know what to expect and knowing Voldemort and his Horcrux-story, Harry was prepared for the worst._

"_When someone drinks this," Snape started explaining in his arrogant fashion, "that person shall be linked to the body this blood belongs to."_

"_Ugh that's gross," Harry replied, making a face. "Why would you drink that?"_

_"I am not going to," Snape said. He reached out his hand and gave the bottle to Voldemort._

"_As if he needs to," Harry yelled. "Your recent body has been built with my blood!"_

...

His body felt heavy and tired, but most of the pain had subsided. He felt hazy in the head, but the slumber seemed to lift, bit by bit. He heard voices again, and he was able to make out a couple of words. "…will be up soon… …not sure if… …his friends… …captain…"

He felt an unexplainable pain in his side, as if he had been cut badly. Then he felt another pinch in his arm. It was a sharp pain, but gone in seconds.

And so was Harry.

...

"_You do not get it, Harry," Voldemort continued. "I should think that you know that we are linked more than just with your blood in my body."_

"_I…" Harry started angrily, but Voldemort raised his hand and for some reason, Harry decided to fall quiet. He needed to stall Voldemort and come up with an idea to get him out of Soul Society._

"_Yes, boy, you have learned of my Horcruxes, haven't you? I believe your friends have figured out that you, Harry, are also carrying my soul. When you did not die so many years ago, I wanted to know why: that veil, that veil is Death itself. So how? How could you survive?"_

_Harry remained quiet. He saw Snape taking small steps back from Voldemort, he saw shinigami struggling with wizards and witches. He saw Urahara, who was huddled up with Ginny and Hermione. He saw Yoruichi huddled up with Luna, Ron and Neville. _

"_Because," Voldemort's voice broke Harry's distraction. He focused again. "Because your soul is special, Harry. Your soul carries mine. You were not meant for the afterlife or for, should you wish to, become a ghost. You were meant to protect with your soul."_

"_I came to Soul Society for another chance, Tom," Harry said. He felt a small shiver of satisfaction through his body when Voldemort's frowned upon hearing his own name. "I left you alone and I had hoped you would leave me alone."_

_..._

Something warm was covering his hands. It squeezed; it must be someone else's hand. Harry wished he could open his eyes, but they failed him. Perhaps he could make a sound? But despite of his best efforts, Harry could not even breathe louder than before. The contact between hands felt comfortable and he was glad he had something else to hold on to besides the bed sheets.

"You should get Luna and Hermione," he heard someone say. At least now he was able to understand what was said. "Harry's not going to be here much longer."

What? What was going to happen to him, then?

...

_Keishu grew impatient. He let out a cry and spread his wings. But Harry shushed him and went back to face Voldemort._

"_Leave you alone?" Voldemort asked. "I shall leave you alone when I have disposed of you."_

_Realizing just in time that Voldemort was ready to strike a blow, Harry quickly drew his zanpakutou and let his Bankai shield him. The curse hit Keishu, but the flames were too fierce to be affected. The curse had been a red light, Harry noticed. Voldemort must have wanted to do something with him before he would cast the killing curse. _

"_If I retrieve my soul from yours, Harry," Voldemort sneered, "your soul will fall apart. You shall die." _

_The second Harry could see again, he saw Voldemort ingest the potion holding his blood._

"_Saezuru, Keishu!" Harry yelled. Keishu flew up and shrieked once, twice and then three times. His enormous wings blew a strong, hot wind over the entire field. He then started to sing a melody that was heard by everybody present. Wizards, witches, shinigami and peasants alike took in the song. The Rukongai bystanders who had not fled from fear finally collected their courage and made a run for it. Shinigami breathed in and out and went to stand stronger, taller. The Death Eaters who, only seconds earlier, had the upper hand in battle now cowered down and covered their ears with their hands. Some even collapsed to their knees. _

_Voldemort had his eyes closed, as he tried to ignore the effects the sound had on him. He was doing well, Harry noticed while grinding his teeth. The song should affect everybody that was battling with the intention to destroy; it would look for the sympathy in a person, and for the guilt. Harry had forgotten how loveless and psychopathic Voldemort was. _

"_I am not impressed, Harry." Voldemort snarled. "You will have to do better."_

_Another flash from his wand, white this time. Harry did not recognize it, but he heard Hermione yelp and realized he should Definitely. Not. Get. Hit._

_He jumped aside, but too late. The curse had scratched his sides and an intense feeling of being cut hit him. His side began to bleed, the cut grew bigger and bigger. Smaller cuts appeared around the major injury and started to bleed as well. As much as he tried to, Harry could not ignore the pain. He screamed out and dropped his zanpakutou. Upon letting go, the song of the bird stopped and a deafening silence fell over the battlefield._

_..._

"Here we are," Harry heard. He was almost sure that was Luna's voice. Thank goodness that she was okay. If she was together with Hermione, it would explain the 'we' and that would mean that she would be okay as well, right?

"I haven't seen any response yet," another voice said. When had Ron entered the room? How long had he been here? "Ginny says she feels his fingers dig her hand sometimes, though."

"I'm not sure," Ginny replied. "It's so shallow that I don't know if he's really doing it or if I really want him to do it so I imagine it."

Perhaps he could reply to her, now. Harry let his mind go to his fingers and now realized that it was Ginny who was holding his hand. He found her hand and gave it a squeeze, as hard as he could. Which was not very hard, but it would have to do for now.

Instantly, he heard a gasp. "I felt him this time! Harry? Harry, can you hear me?"

Yes, Harry's mind screamed. Yes, I can hear you. He wanted to squeeze his fingers again, but his body was so tired and pained that he no longer had the strength. He promised himself to squeeze again the second he felt stronger.

...

"_No, you will not heal him again!" said Voldemort. He released a circle of fiendfyre and cast it around the two of them. The tears that Keishu shed, able to withstand his own heat, evaporated in the heat of the fiendfyre. _

"_Get up, boy! Fight like the man Dumbledore expected you to be!" Voldemort said, starting to lose his patience. "Defend yourself, defend your friends, but prepare for your death."_

_Voldemort took big strides to where Harry was. Harry looked at him and said, "hansou, Keishu." _

_The bird cried out and used his claws to grab Harry by the shoulders. They disappeared in a big fire, only to appear on the other side of the field. Voldemort and Harry were still facing each other, but now on the other sides of the field. _

"_You coward," spat Voldemort. "You let that bird do all the work. At least your irresponsible father dared to stand up to me!"_

_... _

"Where is he?" Rukia asked. She had thrown the door open seconds ago. "Where's Harry?"

"He's here," Hermione replied. Seconds later, Harry felt weight put down near his legs as the mattress was adjusted. "Harry?" asked Rukia.

Harry wished she would take his other hand. He was certain he could squeeze her fingers. She had given him lots of strength before.

As if she was able to read his mind, Ginny took his other hand and led it to Rukia, who gratefully took it. "I feel him," she said. "I can feel him hold my hand."

"I think he's close to waking up, now," Ginny said.

...

"_Harry!" _

_His name was yelled from beyond the fiendfyre. He searched and found the source: Ron was waving frantically with his arms. "She cast the spell! Hermione cast the spell!"_

_Harry knew what this meant: the horcruxes back in the material world must have been destroyed with the spell Hermione had prepared. That left only Harry and Voldemort._

"_Harry!"_

_This was not Ron. Annoyed, Harry looked around and now saw Urahara frantically waving his arms. "Don't forget our deal!"_

_What deal? Harry did not know what he was talking about until he saw the cast away Hougyouku. It was no longer in Voldemort's possession. Urahara's plan had not worked: the stone had rejected Voldemort and not entered it. It would be the answer to anything. The Hougyouku would destroy Voldemort en Voldemort would destroy the Hougyouku. _

_He then made the connection. It was suddenly and it scared him. Keishu must have realized what Harry had only seconds earlier, because it was eying his wielder curiously._

_... _

"Hey! Hey Harry!"

He had finally opened his eyes. It took all of his strength, but his energy level was replenished the second he could see who were with him. Ginny, Luna, Rukia, Hermione, Ron, Neville, and in a faraway corner, Byakuya, Hitsugaya, Urahara and Yoruichi. There were also a couple of Fourth Division workers whom Harry did not recognize.

Rukia bend down and gently tried hugging him. "How the fuck can you still be alive?" she asked. Harry could hear Byakuya cough and Rukia flinch slightly, but she did not turn. "You look like shit."

"Thanks," Harry managed to say.

"Harry," Hermione said, now trying the same awkward hug Rukia had hugged him with. Then followed Luna and Ginny. When Ron walked up to him, Harry grimaced. "You too, mate?"

Ron flushed and reached out his hand. "I hear you can squeeze these quite well."

Both Harry and Ron laughed at this. The dizziness coming from it, though, was only Harry's. He closed his eyes and breathed slowly. "I remember what happened."

Nobody replied. It was painfully quiet in the room. Now that he was paying more attention, Harry noticed that everybody looked at him with the same look in their eyes.

"What do you know that I don't?" he asked slowly. Hermione stepped forward, the look in her eyes deepening. "Harry…" She sat down near his chest and took his hand in both of hers. "Harry, I think it's time we say goodbye now."

"You're leaving again?" he asked. "Just like that?"

Tears were forming in her eyes as she held his hand tighter. "No, Harry. We'll stay a bit longer, to help."

"So why the goodbye?"

She bow her head. "You sacrificed yourself for everyone, Harry. You were immensely brave, but you paid the highest price."

"Who died?" Harry asked. He looked around the room, as if someone had mysteriously disappeared.

"Harry…"

The look in her eyes and the tone of her voice. He knew something was up. Then it dawned upon him.

...

"_Will it take me?" Harry yelled. Urahara understood perfectly. "Yes!" he nodded._

_Harry took a deep breath and decided to think about it no more. He ran towards the Hougyouku and threw himself onto it. Then, as hard as he could, he jammed it into his stomach._

"_HARRY!" _

"_Potter!"_

"_Captain!"_

"_Harry!"_

_People all around him called out his name and rushed over. The fiendfyre, however, stopped them, rendering them useless. Which was perfect, because Harry did not need to be saved this time. He would not survive on luck this time, nor on skill or help._

_It all came down to his dedication, now._

_..._

"How long do I have left?" Harry asked. He could guess the answer. "We're saying goodbye now, aren't we?"

This proved to be too much for Hermione. She let go of her tears and started sobbing out loud. She threw herself on Harry and clutched onto his robed. "You have always been my best brother friend, Harry. I will miss you so much. I'll think of you every day."

"We'll be here, Harry," Ron said, putting a hand on Hermione's shoulder. She sat up again and wiped her face on her sleeve. "You won't be alone ever again for the rest of your life."

"Too soon, Ron," Ginny spat. But when she looked away, Ron eyed Harry, who grinned up at him. Then Harry looked for Rukia, who was surprisingly seeking comfort in Byakuya, who in his turn looked extremely uncomfortable. Harry called out her name and she slowly made her way towards him.

"I don't know what to say to you," she said, averting eye contact.

"That's okay," Harry said. "I know all you wish to say. Come lay with me?"

Rukia obliged and took her place on the mattress. She buried her face in Harry's robes. She lay there for a minute before she looked up again. "Tell Hisana-neesan I miss her?"

"Will do," Harry replied. "I'll also tell her you're now strong enough to beat the crap out of that husband of hers."

Rukia's eyes widened and she shook her head. "I could never even beat Nii-sama when he takes it easy during training!"

"But Hisana needn't know that, right?" Harry grinned. "Hey, do me a favor, will you?"

"Anything," she replied.

"Thank that Kurosaki-boy for me, okay? For taking care of you when both Byakuya and I were unable to."

She looked at him and then nodded.

"Your division will be taken care of," Byakuya said. "I shall continue to train your men. Captain Hitsugaya has agreed to take over your paperwork. We shall find a new captain as soon as possible."

"You senseless git, how thick of a bloke are you?" Ron said to him, surprised. Hitsugaya stifled a laugh. "Let us leave, Captain Kuchiki. We are no longer needed."

Byakuya shot a filthy glare towards Ron, but decided to leave anyway. He did not say another thing to Harry. "Potter," Hitsugaya said, standing in the doorway. He hesitated for a bit. "You were quite something." He made a bow and then left the room.

"We shall leave too," Urahara said, after a period of being suspiciously quiet. He eyed Yoruichi, who nodded.

"Wait," Harry said. "Why did the Hougyouku reject Voldemort?"

"It searches for a strong soul," Urahara replied. "His was all broken. As is yours, now." He turned around. "Harry-san, until we meet again."

"Bye," Harry replied.

It was quite once again. Then Luna broke the silence. "Have you thought about your last words yet? My mum's were 'Luna? What are you doing here?' She stopped paying attention to her new spell and then… you know what happened."

Harry raised his eyebrow. "What do you suggest?"

"If you could tell us one last thing, what would it be?" Neville asked.

"_If_?" Harry tried jokingly. Nobody laughed.

...

"_You'll die, insolent fool," Voldemort said, looking at Harry. "What will this accomplish?"_

"_We're connected, aren't we? So if something happens to you, it will happen to me. That works both ways, Tom!" _

"_No!" Voldemort said, realizing what Harry's plan was. "No!"_

_But it was too late. Harry felt the Hougyouku shiver and search for the core of his souls. When it found the connection, it attached itself to it. It was silent for a few seconds, until Harry started to cry out in pain. _

_He heard groans of pain from the other side of the field. He knew he had won. _

_Voldemort would die._

_..._

Harry smiled and closed his eyes. He felt tears gathering in his eyes, but he felt too tired to even cry anymore.

The room was now quiet and only filled with the people he cared about most. It was over, the war had ended. Harry let go of any hand he felt holding him and stretched out his muscles. Upon relaxing them again, he felt tiredness wash over his entire physique. He thought one last time of the person who taught him better than to fear dying.

"Death is just the next great adventure," Harry muttered.

It was beyond anything he had ever felt before. He felt lighter than ever, his last remaining worries were now lifted from his shoulders. He could not even remember what fear felt like. Rukia would be okay, now that he promised her to look after Hisana. His division would manage with the help of Hitsugaya and Byakuya; they would find another captain.

Harry smiled and closed his eyes, taking in the last he could hear. He heard Hermione's sobbed 'bye Harry', he heard Ron's 'good-bye, pal.' He heard Luna's last warning to look out for imprinter's leeches in the afterlife, and he heard Neville's softly uttered 'thank you'.

It was bliss. He felt no pain, his body and soul felt right again. His own. And he didn't have to share them with anyone.

He could no longer see, he could no longer hear. Everything went dark, he could not even feel his body anymore.

There it was. They had won.

They were okay.

.

.

.

.

.

.

It was time to let go.


End file.
